DELAWARE, a term of various application in the States, indicates a river, a bay, and a state, to say nothing of counties and less important localities.-1. The river D. rises in New York, on the w. slope of the Catskill mountains, commonly reckonod a portion of the Appalachians or Alleghanics; and, in a generally southerly direction, it divides New York state and New Jersey from Pennsylvania and the state of its own name, forcing its way through the great chain above designated between almost por pendicular crags of more than 1000 ft. in height, and gradually expanding into a broad estuary. With a course of fully 300 m., it is navigable for large ships to Philadelphia, and for steam-vessels to the head of tide-water at Trenton. The D. is connected by one canal with the Chesapeake, and by two others with the Hudson; and along the right side of the stream runs a similar work for 60 m. from Easton to Bristol.-2. D. bay— the estuary of the river—measures about 60 m. in length; the greatest width being 30 miles. It has New Jersey on the left, and D. on the right, its entrance being between cape May in the former state, and cape Henlopen in the latter. As numerous shoals make the navigation dangerous and the anchorage inconvenient, an artificial harbor of about 300 acres in extent, and of at least 4 fathoms in depth, has been formed at cape Hen lopen.-3. The state of D., stretching in n. lat. from 38° 29' to 39° 47', and in w. long. from 75° to 75° 45', is situated between Pennsylvania, Maryland, and its own bay and river. With the single exception of Rhode Island, it is the least considerable member
of the union, being very little larger than the county of Norfolk in England. Its area is 2,120 sq.m., and its pop., according to the census of 1870, is 125,015, having been, in 1860, 112,222. Of this pop., the greater number (102,221) are white, and the remainder (22, 794) colored. The senate of D. consists of 9 members, and its house of representa tives of 21. The governor, who is elected for four years, is not eligible for re-election. The legislature meets biennially. Amendments to the constitution must be proposed by two thirds of each house. The principal products are wheat, maize, oats, potatoes, flax, wool, fruit, and timber; and in addition to woolen and cotton factories, there are tanneries, paper-mills, iron-works, and ship-building establishments. Besides Dover, the political capital, and Wilmington, the most populous city, the other places of any note are Milford, Newcastle, Lewes, Smyrna, and Georgetown. Originally settled in 1627 by Swedes and Finlanders, D. was, in 1655, subjugated by the Dutch of New Amsterdam, afterwards New York. Again, in 1664, it fell, with the Dutch possessions in general, into the hands of the English, ultimately becoming a part of the grant to Penn in 1632; and though in 1702 it was detached from Pennsylvania for legislative purposes, yet it remained subject to the same governor down to the revolution. D. though a slave-state, did not secede in 1864.