THE PLANT WORLD 25 



take the evening express train for Houlton on his way north to the 

 Canadian frontier. The entire trip from the station at Norcross to the 

 summit of Ktaadn and return to the raih'oad was accomplished between 

 Monday morning and Thursday evening. The whole distance traveled 

 by steamer, canoe and on foot was about eighty miles through a wild and 

 rugged wildnerness. 



Topography. 



Mount Ktaadn, as seen from Pockwockamus Dead Water, is a long 

 elevated ridge several miles in length sloping gradually from the west 

 and culminating at the eastern end in the West Peak, 5215 feet high. 

 The mountain rises far above the elevation of any surrounding land, 

 reaching well above timber line. From the south side, the mountain 

 rises precipitously, as a great ridge, from the lowlands of the West 

 Branch of the Penobscot, the grandest mountain in New England. To 

 reach the Southwest Slide, which is clearly seen from the river, it is 

 necessary to cross some ridges and low spurs of the main orographic 

 mass before reaching the foot of the mountain proper. The accompanying 

 sketch made from Ktaadn View (Pockwockamus Dead Water) repre- 

 sents the south side of the Ktaadn range. Another large slide is seen 

 to the west of the one mentioned above, called locally the Devil's Face, 

 because of the shape and the patches of vegetation which represent the 

 ears, eyes, nose and mouth. The letters a, b, c, d, designate gullies 

 down which streams run to swell the volume of the mountain torrents 

 that empty into the Penobscot. The top of the mountain between the 

 points t and t' represents the location of the alpine garden on the flat 

 table-land. The slide up which a Ktaadn climber scrambles is composed 

 of loose earth, boulders and smaller rocks entirely destitute of vegetation, 

 except where islands of plants are encountered growing in soil held in 

 place by larger boulders than common. The earth of the Slide, espe- 

 cially of the upper portions, is being constantly washed down to the flat 

 country immediately below, and occasionally, when a land-slip occurs, 

 huge boulders dash down the mountain side. Just before reaching the 

 table-land from the Slide, huge blocks of granite piled up in every con- 

 ceivable manner must be climbed across. This part of the ascent is by 

 far the most difiicult and trying. The descent here is equally difflcult. 

 The table-land is in most parts stony and rough, with a scanty growth 

 of vegetation. It, however, supx)orts many alpine plants, and may, 

 therefore, be called an alpine garden. In one of the occasional tracts of 

 bog, there is a spring of good drinking water. Between the table-land 

 and the West Peak is an area (X in the fig.) piled up with loose flat 

 boulders of red granite. In the crevices of one of the boulders at about 

 4900 feet, a single stunted wind-swept specimen of Pioea nigra was found, 



