lis 77-, Flora of the Adirondacks. 



catamount and the harsh cry of the lynx. Beds of iron, 

 enough to supply a world, arc hidden among these rude 

 crags, and untold wealth of pines far in the interior of 

 this region, await the opening of railway transportation 

 to supply our lumber markets. If, with great toil, we 

 climb to the summit of some commanding peak, strug- 

 gling upward through gaping chasms and cragged defiles, 

 avoiding precipitous dill's, pulling ourselves up rocky 

 steeps by rootlets and branches until we reach the emi- 

 nence, we shall see that this mountainous region is not 

 all an untamed wilderness. Looking from the summit of 

 Mt. Marcy or "Whiteface, on one side we shall gaze upon 

 a sea of mountains rising in huge billows like great waves 

 upon the storm-swept ocean; a hundred lakes, lying 

 in their rugged bosoms, glisten in the sunlight before 

 our eyes, and the utmost rudeness pervades the scenery ; 

 but turning about and looking in an opposite direction. 

 the eye falls upon a landscape beautiful and varied 

 beyond description. Before us, far to the northward and 

 southward and eastward, fertile valleys and verdant 

 fields alternate with groves and forests, and the little 

 hamlets of the interior dotting the landscape here and 

 there among the hills, contrast beautifully with the 

 thriving villages along the borders of Lake Champlain. 

 Away, as far as the eye can reach to the northward, may 

 be seen the waters of the St. Lawrence, a silver ribbon 

 stretched just below the horizon. Confronting us from 

 the east, beyond Lake Champlain is the noble range of 

 Green mountains, no longer green at this distauce, but 

 misty blue, their rounded and regular summits contrasting 

 strongly with the sharp and rugged peaks of the sur- 

 rounding Adirondacks. The beautiful Champlain lies 

 between the slopes of these two ranges of mountains, an 

 object of surpassing loveliness, its green islands resting 

 emerald-like upon its surface. 



