s. At the edge of
the Common, which is now well within the city, the British troops in
1775 took their boats on the eve of the battle of Lexington; and the
post-office, now in the very heart of the business section of the city,
stands on the original shore-line. The reclaimed territory is level and
excellently drained. The original territory still preserves to a large
degree its irregularity of surface, but its hills have been much
degraded or wholly razed. Beacon Hill, so called from its ancient use as
a signal warning station, is still the most conspicuous topographical
feature of the city, but it has been changed from a bold and picturesque
eminence into a gentle slope. After the great fire of 1872 it became
possible, in the reconstruction of the business district, to widen and
straighten its streets and create squares, and so provide for the
traffic that had long outgrown the narrow, crooked ways of the older
city. Atlantic Avenue, along the harbour front, was created, and
Washington Street, the chief business artery, was largely remade after
1866. It is probable that up to 1875, at least, there had been a larger
outlay of labour, material and money, in reducing, levelling and
reclaiming territory, and in straightening and widening thoroughfares[1]
in Boston, than had been expended for the same purposes in all the other
chief cities of the United States together. Washington Street, still
narrow, is perhaps the most crowded and congested thoroughfare in
America. The finest residence streets are in the Back Bay, which is laid
out, in sharp contrast with the older quarters, in a regular,
rectangular arrangement. The North End, the original city and afterwards
the fashionable quarter, is now given over to the Jews and foreign
colonies.

The harbour islands, three of which have been ceded to the United States
for the purpose of fortification, are numerous, and render the
navigation of the shipping channels difficult and easily guarded. Though
tortuous of access, the channels afford a clear passage of 27-35 ft.
since great improvements were undertaken by the national government in
1892, 1899, 1902 and 1907, and the harbour, when reached, is secure. It
affords nearly 60 sq. m. of anchorage, but the wharf line, for lack of
early reservation, is not so large as it might and should have been. The
islands in the harbour, now bare, were for the most part heavily wooded
when first occupied. It has been found impossible to affore