IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 121 
must be referred to L. serpyllifolium, DC. We were too 
late to obtain the plant in blossom, excepting one or two 
straggling specimens; but we happily gathered flowering 
plants of Rhododendron Catawbiense. 
I should have remarked, that so much time was occupied 
in the ascent of this mountain, as nearly to prevent us from 
herborizing around the summit for that day; since we had 
to descend some distance to the nearest spring of water, and 
to prepare our encampment for the night. The branches of the 
Balsam afforded excellent materials for the construction of 
our lodge; the smaller twigs, with large mats of moss 
stripped from the rocks, furnished our bed, and the dead 
trees supplied us with fuel for cooking our supper, and for 
feeding the large fire which we were obliged to keep up 
during the night. We returned to the top next morning, 
and devoted several hours to its examination, but the threat- 
ening state of the weather hindered us from visiting the 
adjacent ridges, or the southern and eastern faces of the 
mountain, and we were constrained to descend, towards 
evening, to the humble dwelling of our guide, which we 
hardly reached before the impending storm commenced. 
Our next excursion was to the Roan Mountain, a portion 
of that elevated range which forms the boundary between 
North Carolina and Tennessee, distant about thirty miles 
South-west from our quarters at the foot of the Grandfather, 
by the directest path; but at least sixty by the nearest car- —- 
riage road. We travelled, for the most part, on foot, loading | 
the horses with our portfolios, papers, and some necessary - 
luggage, crossed the Hanging-Hock Mountain to Elk Creek, 
ànd thence over a steep ridge to Cranberry Forge, on 
the sources of Doe River, where we passed the night. On 
our way, we cut down a Service-tree (as the Amelanchier 
Canadensis is here called), and feasted upon its ripe fruit, 
which throughout this region is highly and, indeed, justly 
prized, being sweet, with a very agreeable flavour; while, in 
the Northern States, so far as our experience goes, this fruit, 
even if it may be said to be edible, is not worth taking. s; As 
Services are here greedily sought after, and generally procured 
