The length of North Carolina, east and west, is considerably greater than the distance between Boston and Washington. The western part of the State is mountainous. From its heights the state slopes into the vast Piedmont Plateau, a sub-mountain terrace, and thence into the low country or the Atlantic plain. In western North Carolina the Appalachian Mountains reach the greatest height in the United States eastward of the Rocky Mountains. The eye of an observer from the heights near Blowing Rock descries in one view mountain summits in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and South Carolina. The people of western North Carolina are white by a vast majority, while in the eastern part of the State the black population predominates. In twenty-five of the western counties 88 per cent. of the people are white. In the same number of the farthest eastern counties there is a majority of ten thousand black people. In accordance with this fundamental fact, the work of the American Missionary Association in the western part of the State is chiefly among the white, and in the eastern part of the State, among the black people. In both Carolinas the vast majority of the population is rural. According to the last census there was only one city in each State with more than twenty thousand people, and only six places with more than ten thousand. In Wilmington, the largest city of North Carolina, the American Missionary Association began work as the war was closing. Of the twenty-four thousand people in the county, fourteen thousand are black. Fourteen years ago Mr. J. J. H. Gregory, of Massachusetts, became much interested in this field and erected a fine brick church and commodious school buildings. The combined church and school work have gone on with continued efficiency and prosperity. There is a strong desire on the part of the people for the development of an industrial department in the school. The elevating influence of the church is felt not only in Wilmington, but throughout the surrounding communities. A great many of the school students have become teachers in the city schools and in different parts of the State. [Illustration: CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, WILMINGTON, N. C.] CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, WILMINGTON, N. C. While Wilmington and Beaufort are both sea-side places, the former is chiefly a commercial town while the latter is devoted to the fishing and oyster industries. The island is swept by refreshing sea breezes, and a great many of its inhabitants are boatmen and fishermen. The Beaufort fisheries extend over a large area in which immense schools of fish are found. In deep sea fishing the nets are dropped to a depth of one hundred feet and drawn up often filled to bursting. Not infrequently whales are captured off the coast.