.=--Early navigators divided the Hudson into fourteen
"reaches" or distances from point to point as seen by one sailing up
or down the river. In the slow days of uncertain sailing vessels these
divisions meant more than in our time of "propelling steam," but they
are still of practical and historic interest.

The Great Chip Rock Reach extends from above Weehawken about eighteen
miles to the boundary line of New York and New Jersey--(near
Piermont). The Palisades were known by the old Dutch settlers as the
"Great Chip," and so styled in the Bergen Deed of Purchase, viz, the
great chip above Weehawken. The _Tappan_ Reach (on the east side of
which dwelt the Manhattans, and on the west side the Saulrickans and
the Tappans), extends about seven miles to Teller's Point. The
third reach to a narrow point called _Haverstroo_; then comes the
_Seylmaker's_ Reach, then _Crescent_ Reach; next _Hoge's_ Reach, and
then _Vorsen_ Reach, which extends to Klinkersberg, or Storm King,
the northern portal of the Highlands. This is succeeded by _Fisher's_
Reach where, on the east side once dwelt a race of savages called
Pachami. "This reach," in the language of De Laet, "extends to another
narrow pass, where, on the west, is a point of land which juts out,
covered with sand, opposite a bend in the river, on which another
nation of savages--the Waoranecks--have their abode at a place called
Esopus. Next, another reach, called _Claverack_; then _Backerack;_
next _Playsier_ Reach, and _Vaste_ Reach, as far as Hinnenhock; then
_Hunter's_ Reach, as far as Kinderhook; and Fisher's Hook, near Shad
Island, over which, on the east side, dwell the Mahicans." If these
reaches seem valueless at present there are

=Five Divisions of the Hudson=--which possess interest for all, as
they present an analysis easy to be remembered--divisions marked by
something more substantial than sentiment or fancy, expressing five
distinct characteristics:--

1. THE PALISADES, an unbroken wall of rock for fifteen
miles--GRANDEUR.

2. THE TAPPAN ZEE, surrounded by the sloping hills of Nyack,
Tarrytown, and Sleepy Hollow--REPOSE.

3. THE HIGHLANDS, where the Hudson for twenty miles plays "hide and
seek" with "hills rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun"--SUBLIMITY.

4. THE HILLSIDES for miles above and below Poughkeepsie--THE
PICTURESQUE.

5. THE CATSKILLS, on the west, throned in queenly dignity--BEAUTY.

* * *

On the deck
Stands the b