June] NATUBAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 219 



stages up the mountain side, to mark the fourteen stages 

 of our Lord's Passion. Tlie people then gathered upon the 

 shores of the lake, to the number of 10,000 or '20,000, as variously 

 stated, filling even the trees, and the eloquent Bishop preached 

 to them from a little boat on the lake. In 1844, or 1845, the 

 support of the cross gave way, and it became a ruin. He 

 feared that since that time, the faithful had almost forgotten this 

 famous pilgrimage. The mountain had also been called 

 le pain de mere, or sugar loaf, but he trusted it would prove 

 easier of ascent, than might be supposed from the name. 



Two parties were then formed, one for the study of the 

 geology of the mountain, under the guidance of Principal Dawson 

 and Dr. T. Sterry Hunt ; the other to collect botanical and 

 zoological specimens, with Dr. Bell and Messrs. McCord, Ritchie 

 and Whiteaves as leaders. The ascent was then made in a 

 leisurely and excursive way, until in due course the summit was 

 gained. The clink of the hammer during the ascent, and the 

 fair faces around one, brought vividly before the mind's eye the 

 scene described in the well-known lines from " The Princess" : — 



Many a little hand 

 Glanced like a touch of sunshine on the rocks, 

 Many a light foot shone hke a jewel set 

 In the dark crag ; and then we turn'd, we wound 

 About the cliffs, the copses, out and in, 

 Hammering and clinking, chattering stony names 

 Of shale and hornblende, rag and trap and tuff, 

 Auiy^rdaloid and trachyte, till the sun 

 Grew broader towards his death aud fell, and all 

 The rosy heights came out above the lawns." 



The extensive panorama visible from the summit, was the 

 theme of much admiration. To the south and east the 

 mountains of Monnoir, or Mount Johnson, Montarville, Brome 

 and Shefford met the eye, and in the haze, the Green Mountains 

 were dimly perceptible. Nor was the charm of water lacking to 

 complete the landscape; the St. Lawrence and the Richelieu 

 Rivers, the mountain tarn at our feet, and a portion of Lake 

 Champlain helped to make up the picture, which may be described 

 as a flat, enormous plain of • stratified rocks, here and there 

 broken through by isolated trappean hills. 



The gathering was then called to order, and Principal Dawson, 

 standing upon the most convenient rock, said he had anticipated 



