No. 112.] 729 



ton, and the altitude of Mt. Marcy has actually been de- 

 termined from that point. The idea, however, is inaccurate, 

 that this tract had not been explored until a recent date, or that 

 these mountains were unknown, until a late discovery. All these 

 scenes have been, for many years, familiar to innumerable hunters, 

 pioneers, and surveyors. Most of these prominent summits are 

 visible through a w^ide territory, (which has been occupied for 

 nearly half a century) not in tlie obscurity of distance, but in the 

 full exhibition of their majesty and glory. 



Mount Marcy, the monarch of these wilds, towers above the 

 surrounding pinnacles, in a beautiful cone, and in one view nearly 

 an acute apex. Ascending above every contiguous object, and 

 peering with this striking formation far upwarci, no one can con- 

 template it without recognizing the force and appropriateness 

 of its name, in the energetic and beautiful nomenclature of the 

 Indians. They called the towering mountain, projecting its acute 

 top toward the heavens, " Tahawus," " The Cloud-splitter."''^ The 

 height of tliis mountain, above tide water, is 5,467 feet. Another 

 eminence. Mount Mclntyre, supposed to fall a little below Mount 

 Marcy in altitude, perhaps surpasses it in ponderous magnificence, 

 and presents a more uniform, massive and compact structure. 

 The Dial mountain. Mount Seward, McMartin, Golden, and other 

 peaks unmeasured, of apj^arently equal if not greater dimensions, 

 mingle in this cluster, and impress a stamp of Alpine grandeur 

 upon ihe scenery. 



A lofty range, known as the " Keene Mountains," presents a 

 peculiar aspect; dark, broken, and frowning. The "White-face 

 Mountain,-' in the majestic Indian dialect *• Waho-partenie,'' an 

 eminence of 4,855 feet, stands remote from thr other groups, and 

 occupies the northern extremity of the huge mountain belt that 

 encirclns tlie town of North Elba. This peak, from its rare and 

 adniirdhle proportions, its bald summit, S(dilary isolation, and the 

 vast pre-eminence of its height over surroumiing objects, is a 

 beautiful and conspicuous lundmark, over a wide horizon. A 

 few years since it presented a spectacle of unequaled sublimity. 

 In the heat and drouth of midsummer, the combustible materials 

 u[)on its summit were fired by accident or design, and during one 



