_Shelter Island_ lies off the east end of Long Island. It contains about eight thousand acres of varied surface, with a soil generally light and sandy, but in some parts rich, level, and well cultivated. _Fisher’s Island_ lies near the east extremity of Long Island; it is twelve miles long and one wide; the surface is broken, but it affords a good farm, and its dairies are very fine. _Gardiner’s Island_ is on the north side of Long Island, and contains about three thousand acres of valuable land. _Staten Island_ lies at the mouth of New-York harbor; it is about eighteen miles long, and eight wide. The surface is generally rough and hilly, but on the south is a level tract of good land. This island forms the county of Richmond.[25] _Manhattan Island_, the seat of the city of New York, is fifteen miles long, and one and a half in its average breadth. It is washed on the western side by the Hudson, and separated from the continent and Long Island on the east by narrow channels. It is generally level in the lower part, and the soil here rests upon a granite rock. At the northern extremity, the granite is succeeded by limestone, which affords excellent marble, and extends for some distance into the country. In the northern part, the shores are rocky, and the face of the island strongly marked by abrupt crags and ravines, hills and valleys, insulated rocks and marshy inlets. The gneiss rock, which is much used for side-walk pavements and the foundations of buildings, is found in abundance here. Small quantities of porcelain clay have also been found upon the island. The Bay of Chesapeak contains many islands within the limits of Maryland. _Kent Island_, on the east side of the bay, opposite Annapolis, is twelve miles long. The _Tangier Islands_ lie farther down the bay. On the seacoast is the island of _Assatiegue_, twenty miles long and two broad.