The Appendix contains the present "Constitution of North Carolina." Then follows a series of "Questions on the Constitution," prepared expressly for this work by Hon. Kemp P. Battle, LL. D., President of the University of North Carolina. This is an entirely new and valuable feature in a school book, and contains an analysis of our State government. This is just the information that every citizen of North Carolina ought to possess, and teachers should require all their students of this history to read and study the Constitution and endeavor to answer the questions thereon. No State in the Union possesses a record of nobler achievements than North Carolina. Her people have always loved liberty for themselves, and they offered the same priceless boon to all who came within her borders; and it was a full knowledge of this trait of our people which made Bancroft say "North Carolina was settled by the freest of the free." CHAPTER I. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF NORTH CAROLINA. The State of North Carolina is included between the parallels 34° and 362° north latitude, and between the meridians 752° and 842° west longitude. Its western boundary is the crest of the Smoky Mountains, which, with the Blue Ridge, forms a part of the great Appalachian system, extending almost from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico; its eastern is the Atlantic Ocean. Its mean breadth from north to south is about one hundred miles; its extreme breadth is one hundred and eighty-eight miles. The extreme length of the State from east to west is five hundred miles. The area embraced within its boundaries is fifty-two thousand two hundred and eighty-six square miles. 2. The climate of North Carolina is mild and equable. This is due in part to its geographical position; midway, as it were, between the northern and southern limits of the Union. Two other causes concur to modify it; the one, the lofty Appalachian chain, which forms, to some extent, a shield from the bleak winds of the northwest; the other, the softening influence of the Gulf Stream, the current of which sweeps along near its shores. 3. The result of these combined causes is shown in the character of the seasons. Fogs are almost unknown; frosts occur not until the middle of October; ice rarely forms of a sufficient thickness to be gathered; snows are light, seldom remaining on the ground more than two or three days. The average rainfall is about fifty- three inches, which is pretty uniformly distributed throughout the year. The climate is eminently favorable to health and longevity.