EAST RIVER—

wharfs are built forty feet high on account of the ex-traordinary tides in the bay of Fundy. In 1820, ahandsome* toll-bridge, 1200 feet long, was erected overthe ferry between Moose island and the main land,connecting Eastport with Perry. About 1500 tonsof shipping belong to persons resident in this town.The exports consist of lumber, and provisions of vari-ous kinds. Lon. 66° 56' W„ lat. 44° 54' N.

East River communicates with the Hudson inthe bay of New York, in the United States of Ame-rica, and is formed by the narrowing of Long Islandsound, which opens with a broad mouth at the easternend, and receives a strong impulse from the tides inthe Atlantic. This channel is so called in contra-distinction to the North river (the Hudson). As thesound contracts to the west of the broad expanse infront of New Haven, and forms what is called EastRiver, the oceanic currents act with a force that in-creases with the diminishing width of the stream ;and this causes higher tides here than at any otherplace around the island. Arriving at New Yorkabout three quarters of an hour earlier than those bythe narrows, this current drives upwards along theeast shore of the Hudson, many miles in advance ofthe other on the west; and thus the Hudson has twotides, which hardly unite their action till they havepassed Tappan and Haverstraw bays. Hell-gate,or Hurl-gate, a dangerous and very intricate strait,in East river, eight miles N. E. of New York,was called by the Dutch Horll-gatt, signifyingwhirlpool. The strait is formed by projecting rocksthat confine the water to a narrow and crooked chan-nel, occasioning strong eddy currents. There is asufficient depth of water for any vessel, but the pas-sage of large ships should only be attempted withskilful pilots. The powerfully written and deeplyinteresting account of the passage of this channel, inCooper’s “ Water Witch,” must be in the recollectionof every reader of that admirable novelist.

Echo (Latin, Iberrn ), a river in Spain, once theboundary between the territory of Rome and Car-thage, has its source in a little valley east of Reynosa;it proceeds from a copious spring at the foot of anancient tower, called Fontibre, and, after traversingmany open and fertile districts, passes by the city olTortosa, where there is a bridge of boats over it, andthen falls into the Mediterranean, at the island ofAlfachs; but, on account of its current and manyrocks and shoals, it is navigable no higher than Tor-tosa, and even to that place only for small craft. Itis about 350 miles in length.

Ecbatana. The chief city or ancient metropolisof Media, which was built, according to Pliny, bySeleucus. It was the summer residence of the Per-sian and Median kings, and existed in great splendourat a very early period in the history of the world.Ecbatana was situated on a rising ground, abouttwelve stadia from Mount Orontes, and 1200 stadiasouth of Palus Spauta. Its walls are described byancient writers in a style of romantic exaggeration,and particularly by Herodotus and the author of thebook of Judith. Daniel is said by Josephus to havebuilt one of its most magnificent palaces, some of thebeams of which were of silver, and the rest of cedarplated with gold. This splendid edifice afterwardsserved as a mausoleum to the kings of Media, and isaffirmed, by the last-mentioned author, to have beenentire in his time. There are no traces now remain-ing of these lofty buildings ; and even the site of thisLiterature.—Vol. 1.

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celebrated city has become a subject of dispute amongmodern travellers.

Ecclesiastical Establishments. In the fol-lowing article an account is given of the number ofthe clergy, and the expense of supporting the eccle-siastical establishments in some of the principalcountries of Europe. An account of our own estab-lishments will appear under Great Britain.

In the Tableau de la Constitution Politique de laMonarchic Franfaise scion la Charte, fyc., far A. Mahull,is the following account of the French clergy :—“ The Catholic clergy, before the revolution, werecomposed of 136 archbishops and bishops, 6800canons and priests of the has chccurs, attached to thecathedral and collegiate churches, 44,000 curates,6400 succursalistes (a sort of curates removable bythe bishops), 18,000 vicars, 16,000 ecclesiastics, withor without benefices, 600 canonesses, 31,000 monks,27,000 nuns, 10,000 servants of the church; total,159,936. The Catholic population of France thencomprised 25,000,000 souls. The clergy thus formedthe hundred-and-sixty-eighth part of it. The posses-sions of the clergy then afforded, according to the sta-tistical tables of M. Cesar Moreau, 121,000,000 francsof the revenue. The French clergy, at the commence-ment of 1828, according to the documents collectedby the editor of the Almanach du Clerge, comprisedfive cardinals, fourteen archbishops, sixty-six bishops,five cordofis bleus, of the order of the Holy Ghost,468 vicars-general, 684 titular canons, 1788 honorarycanons, 3083 curates, 22,475 desservans (who performthe duties of the titular clergy), 5705 vicars, 439chaplains, 839 almoners, 1076 priests resident in theparishes, or authorised to preach or hear confession,1044 priests, directors and professors of seminaries.The number of priests deemed necessary by thebishops amounts to 52,457, which w r ould give for thepresent population of France, excluding the Protest-ant sects, one for each 550 souls. The total numberof officiating priests in 1830 amounted to rather morethan 30,000. In 1824, the number was estimatedat only 30,443, It is estimated that 13,493 of thepriests employed are upwards of sixty years of age, andthat there are 2328 whom age and infirmity renderincapable of acting. The number of ecclesiasticaleleves is 44,244, of whom 9285 are theologians, 3725philosophes, 21,118 are in the seminaries, 7761 in thecolleges, 2355 with the curates. The whole expenseof supporting the Catholic worship, according to thecalculation presented by M. Charles Dupin, June (21,1828, to the chamber of deputies, is 62,845,000 francs.Before the revolution, the possessions of the clergyafforded 121,000,000, leaving a difference of expensein favour of the present system, of 58,155,000 francs,although the lower orders of the clergy receive amuch ampler compensation than before, and theclergy are much more equally distributed amongthose whom they are to serve. In 1828, accordingto the Almanach du Clerge, the whole number of nunsin France was 19,340. De jure or de facto, thereexisted 3024 establishments of nuns, to wit, 1983 defi-nitely authorised, and 1041 en expectative. Thereare but a small number of religious houses for malesin France ; and the whole of these are likely to beabolished by the existing government, who havecommenced a series of reforms in the church.

The state of the clergy of Spain before the revolu-tion is thus given in the Diario de la Coruna for July1, 1S21 :—■

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ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENTS.