PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE REGION. 79 



t'roiii side to side l)y streams. There is continuous divide from Mt. Carr, 

 south of Moosilauke, over the Franconia and Presidential ranges to the 

 Carter group, and again southward from the Franconia range to the 

 Tripyramid groups, and northward from Mt. Wasliington to Starr King 

 and beyond. But on the other hand, the range is throughout its length 

 characterized by deep transverse notches, dividing it into the groups above 

 named ; and as tlie deepest notches have a north and south trend, with flat 

 sunnnit passes and rather smooth slopes, a considerable but undetermined 

 share of their depth may be attributed to glacial action, of which more 

 below. The finest of these notches are : Dixville notch, east of Colebrook, 

 with a summit height of 1831 feet, separating the waters of the Connecticut 

 and Andi'oscoggin ; the Pinkham notch, on the eastern side of the Presi- 

 dential range, with a divide at a height of 2018 feet between streams lead- 

 ing to the Androscoggin and the Saco ; the White Mountain or Crawford 

 notch, west of the same range, reaching 1914 feet at the divide between 

 the headwaters of the Saco and the Ammonoosuc ; the Franconia notch, 

 where the Pemigiwasset flows southward and forms the jVIerrimack, from a 

 divide at a height of 2014 feet, which descends northward to the Ammon- 

 oosuc ; and Kinsman's or Woodstock notch between the Franconia Moun- 

 tains and Moosilauke, dividing branches of the same streams at a height 

 of about 1650 feet. 



The mountains are further dissected by deep, steep-walled ravines and 

 gulfs, where the most active consumption of the mass is now going on : 

 Tuckerman's and King's ravines and the Great Gulf, all in the Presidential 

 range, are among the most picturesque of these. 



Southward from the White Mountains, a plateau-like highland extends, 

 with an elevation of about a thousand feet, between the Connecticut and 

 ]\Ierrimack rivers, into Massachusetts, and then rapidly declines in north- 

 ern Connecticut. Several isolated mountains rise upon it, the finest being 

 Kearsarge (2942), Monadnock (3169) and Wachusett (2018). The 

 highland is generally well drained ; no lakes of large size occur upon it, 

 although small lakes or ponds and flat meadows are common. North- 

 eastward from the AVhite Mountains, an unsettled forest country of 

 scattered mountains and large lakes extends through northern Maine. Its 

 elevation is about fifteen hundred feet around the head waters of the An- 

 droscoggin, falling oft' to 1023 feet at Moosehead lake, and about 500 at 

 Madawaska. The height of the mountains in the region are as yet poorly 

 determined, as nearly all explorers here follow the water-ways alone, 

 avoiding the surrounding forests and swamps. Ktaadn, the highest sum- 

 rait, reaches about 5215 feet. 



The lower lands that fringe the coast are generally less than five hun- 

 dred and often under two hundred feet above sea-level. They include the 

 southern third of Connecticut, all of Rhode Island, southeastern Massa- 



