of the White Mountains, • 83 



lichens.* I was aided in this by the kindness of a gentleman of 

 Boston, well acquainted with these hills, and passionately fond of 

 their scenery. Our party, in addition to this gentleman and my- 

 self, consisted of two ladies, two children, and two experienced 

 guides, whose services were of the utmost importance, not only in 

 indicating the path, but in removing windfalls and other obstruc- 

 tions, and in assisting members of the party over difficult and 

 dangerous places. 



We followed the carriage road for two miles, and then struck off 

 to the left by a bridle path that seemed not to to have been used 

 for several years — the gentlemen and guides on foot, the ladies and 

 children mounted on the sure-footed ponies used in these ascents. 

 Our path wound around a spur of the mountain, over rocky and 

 uneven ground, much of the rock being mica slate, with beautiful 

 cruciform crystals of andalusite, which seemed larger and finer 

 here than in any other part of the mountain which I visited. At 

 first the vegetation was not materially different from that of the 

 lower grounds, but as we gradually ascended we entered the 

 " evergreen zone," and passed through dense thickets of small 

 spruces and firs, the ground beneath which was carpeted with 

 moss, and studded with an immense profusion of the delicate little 

 mountain wood-sorrel (^Oxalis acetosellci), a characteristic plant 

 of wooded hills on both sides of the Atlantic, and which I had 

 not before seen in such profusion since I had roamed on the hills 

 of Lochaber Lake in Nova Scotia. Other herbaceous plants were 

 rare, except ferns and club-mosses ; but we picked up an aster (^,. 

 acuminatus)^ a golden rod, (^Solidago thyrsoidea), and the very 

 pretty tway blade [Listera cor data). 



In ascending the mountain directly, the spruces of this zone 

 gradually degenerate, until they present the appearance of little 

 gnarled bushes, flat on top and closely matted together, so that 

 except where paths have been cut, it is almost impossible to pene- 

 trate among them. Finally they lie flat on the ground, and be- 

 come so small that, as Lyell remarks, the rein-deer moss may be 

 seen to overtop the spruces. This dwarfing of the spruces and 

 firs is the eftect of adverse circumstances, and of their struggle 

 to extend their range toward the summit. Year by year they 



• Dr. Bigelow and Prof. Tuckerman have been the chief botanical ex- 

 plorers of the White Mountains ; though Pursh was the first to determine 

 some of the more interesting plants, and Peck, Booth, Oakes and othera, 

 deserve honourable mention. 



