BOR—BOS
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BORGNE, lake, or gulf, La. E. of lake Pon- jchartrain. It communicates with the Gulf of jMexico, and lake Ponchartrain, and is 40 m.long, and about 15 broad. J
BORIQI) EN, island of the W est Indies, near iPorto Rico . It is uninhabited, though fertile,;and the water good. Here is a great nuintierof land crabs, whence some call it Crab Island.Lon. 66° \V\, lat 18 3 N.
BORODINO, t. Onondago co. N. Y. 180 m.W. from Albany.
BOROUGH, t. Beaver co. Pa .BOSCAWEN, t Hillsborough co. N. H. onW. side of the Merrimack, opposite Canter-bury, with which it is connected by a bridge;9 m. N. from Concord , 56 N\V. from Ports-mouth, 514 from W. Pop. 2,093. It contains2 parishes, in each of wliich there is a Con-gregational meeting-house.
BOSTON, New, t. Hillsborough co. N. H. 8 in. NNW. from Amherst, 492 from W.Pop. 1,680.
BOSTON, s-p and cap. Mass, in Suffolk co.14 m. SSW. from Salem, 40 NNE. from Prov-idence, 56 S. by W. from Portsmouth, 63 SSE.from Concord, N. H. 100 ENE. from Hartford,115 SSW. from Portland, 210 NE. from NewYork, 300 SSE. from Montreal , 300 NE. fromPhiladelphia , 436 from W. Lat. 42° 22' N-from London; Ion. 5° 58' E. from W.
Boston was founded in the year 1630. Inthe Indian language its name was Shaumut,and it was called by the early settlers Trcmont,or Trimontain, from the circumstance of itsbeing built upon three hills.
It is situated at the head of Massachusetts bay, on a peninsula about 4 miles in circum-ference, and is about 3 m. in length, and 1 m.and 25 rods, where widest, in breadth, and isconnected witli the main land at S. end by anarrow isthmus, called the Neck, leading toRoxbury. The town is built in an irregularcircular form round the harbor, which is stud-ded witli about 40 small islands, many of whichafford excellent pasture ; and are frequented insummer by numerous parties of pleasure. Theharbor is formed by Nahant Point on the N.and Point Alderton on the S. and is so capa-cious as to allow 500 vessels to ride at anchorin a good depth of water, while the entrance isso narrow as scarcely to admit 2 ships abreast.The entrance is defended by Fort Independ-ence belonging to the U. S. on Castle Island,
and by Fort Warren on Governor’s Island .There is another fort, called Fort Strong, onNoddle’s Island.
Boston is admirably well situated for com-merce, and is a place of great trade and opu-lence. It is the fourth city in the Union inpopulation and second in commerce. Its tradeis carried on witli every quarter of the world.Its wealth is computed at 92,000,000 dollars.
The shipping of the port amounted in 1828to 161,583 tons. The wharves here are saidto be the finest in the U. S. some of which arenearly a quarter of a mile in length and cov-ered with stores. The yearly imports are13,000,000 dollars and the exports 9,000,000.
Alterations and additions have of late yearsgreatly improved the appearance of Boston .The streets, which were formerly almost with-out an exception narrow and crooked, havebeen in a great degree rendered wide and com-modious; the old wooden structures have inthe greater part of the city been replaced byhandsome buildings of stone or brick. In thewestern part, particularly, there is much neat-ness and elegance. The splendor of the pri-vate buildings here, is not equalled in anyother part of the Union.
The literary institutions of this city are ofthe first order. The public libraries contain70,000 volumes. The Boston Athenaeum is thefinest establishment of its kind in the U. S.