1901] Williams, — Floras of Mts. Washington & Katahdin, 163 
an almost plane surface, inclined to the northwest at an angle of 
' from five to seven degrees and having a length of a mile and one half, 
with an area of more than five hundred acres. It is a botanical 
garden of the most generous proportions. 
Beyond the North Peaks, the ridge continues at a lower level for 
three miles and then it drops abruptly into the foot-hills, which are 
heavily wooded. ‘The entire length of this ridge above timber land, 
is eight and one half miles. The inside of the hook forms the Great 
Basin, an elevated ravine at an average altitude of about 3000 ft., 
three miles long from North to South by one and one half miles wide 
from east to west. Under Pomola and the East and West Peaks, 
the walls of this Basin are well nigh vertical and form a smaller 
amphitheatre of sublime proportions, with a northern exposure, called 
the South or Chimney Basin within which is a small lake called 
Chimney Pond. Near the mouth of the Great Basin on its west side, 
two secondary ridges three quarters of a mile apart, which abut on 
the main ridge on either side of the North Peaks, form an elevated 
ravine with a southeastern exposure called the North Basin. T he 
floor of this North Basin is barren of timber, its elevation, about 3700 
ft., is several hundred feet greater than that of the South Basin and 
the conditions for plant life are similar to those on the summit ridge. 
The back wall of this ravine is very wet and being exposed to the 
sun and less steep in most places than the back wall of the South 
Basin, it afforded us almost the best collecting ground we found on 
the mountain. 
It is not as yet possible to make an accurate botanical estimate of 
the flora of Katahdin, The range is so vast that many seasons will 
be required before we know approximately the bulk of its flora. Our 
survey embraced only some of the main features of the mountain ; 
the two Basins and their walls, the summit ridge from the Saddle 
around to Pomola, including a part of the Tableland with the West 
and East Peaks, and a limited area about the North Peaks. We 
could do nothing on the vast outer slopes of the hook, nor on the 
long Northern Ridge. The roughness of the work and the great 
1A large basin, as yet little known, has been seen by explorers from the Sourd- 
nahunk range (to the northwest of Katahdin). This basin lies in the western 
wall of the North Mt., and is reached with extreme difficulty from above. Those 
who have explored it report a deep abyss surrounded by precipitous walls, and 
with a pond in its floor fed from above by a high waterfall, Owing to lack of de- 
finite data this basin is not represented on the accompanying map. 
