§4 • Dr, Daimon on the Flora 



stretch fortli their roots and branches, bending themselves to the 

 ground, clinging to the bare rocks, and availing themselves of 

 every chasm and fissure that may cover their advance : but the 

 conditions of the case are against them. If their front advances 

 in summer it is driven back in winter, and if in a succession of 

 mild seasons they are able to gain a little ground, less favourable 

 seasons recur, and wither or destroy the holders of their advanced 

 positions. For thousands of years the spruces and firs have striven 

 in this hopeless escalade, but about 4000 feet above the sea seems 

 to be the limit of their advauce, and unless the climate shall 

 change, or these trees acquire a new plasticity of constitution, the 

 genus Abies can never displace the hardier alpine inhabitants 

 above, and plant its standard on the summit of Mount Wash- 

 ington. 



I was struck by the similarity of this dwarfing of the upper 

 edges of the spruce woods, to that which I have often observed on 

 the exposed northern coasts of Cape Breton and Prince Edward 

 Island, where the woods often gradually diminish in height to- 

 ward the beach or the edge of a clifi", till the external row of 

 plants clings closely to the soil, or rises above it only a few inches. 

 The causes are the same, but the appearance is more marked on 

 the mountain than on the coast. 



On the path which we followed, before we reached the upper 

 limit of trees, we arrived at the base of a stupendous cliff", forming 

 the termination of a promontory or spur of the mountain, sepa- 

 rating Tuckerman's ravine from another deep depression known 

 as the Great Gulf. From the top of this precipice poured a little 

 cascade that lost itself in spray long before it touched the tops of 

 the trees below. The view at this place was the most impressive 

 that it was my fortune to see in these hills. 



0[)posite the mouth of the Great Gulf, and I suppose at a height 

 of about 3000 feet, is a little pond known as Hermit Lake. It 

 is nearly circular, and appears to be retained by a ridge of stones 

 and gravel, perhaps an old moraine or sea beach. On its margin 

 piped a solitary sand-piper, a few dragon flies flitted over its sur- 

 face, and tadpoles in the bottom indicated that some species of 

 frog dwells in its waters. High over head and skirting the edges 

 f the precipices, soared an eagle, intent no doubt on the hares 

 that frequent the thickets of the ravines. 



Before we reached Hermit Lake we had been obliged to leave 

 ^our horses, and now we turned aside to the left and entered 



