Bays. A. New York Bay. a. The Narrows. b Arthur Kull Sound. c. Staten Island Sound. q. Newark Bay. w. Raritan. x. Lower Bay.

Forts. Tompkins. Richmond.

Villages. RICHMOND. New Brighton. Tompkinsville. Factoryville.

BOUNDARIES. North by Newark bay and Arthur Kull sound; East by New York bay and the Narrows; South by the Lower bay and Raritan bay; and West by Staten Island sound. It embraces Shooter's island, and the islands of meadow on the west side of Staten island.

SURFACE. Richmond county is quite elevated and much broken. There are a few miles of marsh, however, on the western coast, extending back from Newark bay. The northern shore of the island is very bold, affording some delightful prospects and beautiful sites for building, some of which are occupied. The southeastern extremity is more level.

BAYS, &c. New York bay on the north connects with New

ark bay by means of the Arthur Kull sound. Staten island sound, seldom exceeding half a mile in width, bounds it for fifteen miles on the west. New York bay on the east is contracted at Signal hill into the Narrows which divide it into the upper and lower bays. That portion of the upper bay lying northeast of the island is known as the quarantine ground, where vessels from warm climates are obliged to lie at anchor, under quarantine regulations, till permission is given by the health officer for them to proceed to the city.

CLIMATE. The climate is less subject to extremes than in many sections of the state. The sea-breezes moderate alike the heat of summer and the cold of winter. Its inhabitants are healthy.

GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. Staten Island is based upon primitive rock, which rises near its centre into a ridge, running longitudinally through it, with a breadth of from one to two miles. Boulders of green-stone, sand-stone, gneiss, granite, &c., appear in some sections sparingly, but on the northeast part of the island in considerable abundance.

Steatite, containing veins of talc, amianthus, and alabaster, covers the granite of the ridge. This approaches in many places within one and a half feet of the surface. Brown hematitic iron ore, of a superior quality, is abundant, as well as a granular oxide of iron. Chalcedony, jasper, lignite, crystalized pyrites, asbestos, amianthus, dolomite, Brucite, Gurhofite, talc and serpentine, are the other principal minerals.

There is a single chalybeate spring, of no great strength, in the county. Marine fossils have been found in the alluvial portions of the island.

SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil of the county with proper culture produces fair crops, particularly of oats, corn and grass. Land, however, commands a high price per acre, even when taken in farms.

Oak, hickory, walnut, and chestnut trees are abundant on the ridge, but they are small, and chiefly of after growth.

PURSUITS. The attention of the people is divided between agriculture, manufactures and commerce. Manufactures are al

most entirely confined to the dyeing and printing of cloths.

Fisheries are a source of sustenance and profit to many of its inhabitants. Large quantities of fine oysters and clams, shad, herring and mossbonkers, or white-fish, are annually taken from its waters.

Many of its citizens are engaged in business in the city of New York.

The

SCHOOLS. The public school-houses are fourteen. schools were taught in 1846 on an average ten months, and were attended by 1915 scholars. The wages of teachers amounted to $5425; the libraries contained 4462 volumes. There are twenty-six private schools with 716 pupils.

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Methodists, Episcopalians, Baptists, Dutch Reformed and Roman Catholics. There are twenty-one churches and twenty-four clergymen.

HISTORY. Staten Island was purchased from the Indians, in 1630, by Wouter Van Twiller, as agent for Michael Paauw, one of the directors of the Dutch West India Company, together with a large tract of land in Bergen county, New Jersey. Paauw named his "Colonie" Pavonia,* probably from the abundance of wild turkeys, regarded by the first settlers as a species of peacock.

For some reason, Paauw seems soon to have relinquished his claim to the island, and it reverted to the company. In January, 1639, David Pieterszen De Vries, the pioneer in the settlements on the Delaware, commenced a colony on the island. Through the short sighted policy of Governor Kieft, in regard to the Indians, their revengeful disposition was roused, and in the absence of De Vries, his colony was cut off.

In 1641, Cornelis Melyn, an unprincipled adventurer, claimed the island under an alleged grant from the West India Company, and commenced a colony upon it, but the settlers were soon dispersed by the Indians. In 1651, the Indians sold it again to Augustin Herman, and in 1657, to the Baron Van Capellan, who founded a colony, which was broken up by the Indians.

In 1655, during Governor Stuyvesant's invasion of the Swedish settlements on the Delaware, the Indians made a descent upon Staten Island, and massacred sixty-seven persons, which must have embraced nearly the whole white population.

In 1658, Melyn obtained the exclusive title to the island, and claiming to be independent of New Amsterdam, gave Governor Stuyvesant and the colonists much trouble. In 1659 he conveyed his rights to the company.

In 1664, the county, together with the rest of the colony, fell into the hands of the English, and soon became the home of numerous emigrants. In 1667, the first court of justice was established here. In 1670, it was once more purchased of the Indians by Governor Lovelace. In 1683, it contained 200 families. It was then organized as a county. Soon after this time it received an accession of inhabitants from the Huguenots, who fled from their native land on account of persecution.

On the fourth of July, 1776, Sir William Howe seized the island, and issued from thence his proclamations to the inhabitants of Long Island; and on the 22d of August, landed his troops without opposition, on the Long Island shore, opposite Southfield. The island was held by the British, during the whole revolutionary struggle.

Pavonia signifies the land of peacocks.

On the 21st of August, 1777, Gen. Sullivan, with a force of about 1000 men, undertook an expedition against the English forces on Staten Island He captured about 150 prisoners, but, from the terror of the boatmen who conveyed his troops to the island, he was pressed by the British and thirteen of his men killed, and the rear guard of one division numbering 136 men, taken prisoners, before they could effect a passage to the main land.

In November, 1777, another surprise was attempted by General Dickinson, and in the winter of 1779-80, a third by General Stirling; both were unsuccessful.

Preparatory to the war of 1812, Forts Tompkins, Richmond and Hudson, were erected at the Narrows, which completely command the entrance to the upper bay. On Signal hill, back of the forts, is a telegraph, communicating with New York city. From the time that the English obtained possession of this island, up to the year 1833, a controversy had existed between New York and New Jersey, relative to the jurisdiction over it. This controversy was at length happily terminated in that year, by commissioners, who decided in favor of New York, but yielded to New Jersey the jurisdiction over a portion of the adjacent waters.

VILLAGES, &C. RICHMOND, the county seat, is a small village in the town of Westfield, near the centre of the county. Castleton, upon the Kills and New York bay, is the most hilly town in the county. The great beauty of the prospects, the salubrity of climate, and purity of water which its great elevation secures, and the convenience of access to New York city, has within the last few years much increased the value of its lands. It has three considerable villages, all finely situated; Tompkinsville, New Brighton and Factoryville.

Tompkinsville contains three hospitals connected with the Quarantine department, and the country seat of the late Vice President, D. D. Tompkins. New Brighton has a young ladies' seminary and a boarding school for boys. It is distinguished for its beautiful country seats. At Factoryville is an extensive dyeing and printing establishment.

In Northfield is located the "Sailors' Snug Harbour," founded by Robert R. Randall, in 1801, who left for this purpose twentytwo acres of land, in the fifteenth ward of New York city. The principal edifice, with its wings, is 225 feet in length, and is usually the home of about 100 infirm and aged seamen. Connected with it is a farm of 160 acres. An elegant monument to the memory of the founder fronts the edifice.