12 PROCEEDINGS OP THE 



stretches off toward the higher Pocono country to the northeast. 

 No other important tributaries are received by the river north 

 of Slatington. 



The Blue Ridge on the southwestern side of the river is de- 

 veloped into a rounded dome, which bears, about half way up 

 one of its slopes, a jagged point known as the Devil's Pulpit. 

 The northeastern side of the river is guarded by a very rugged 

 promontory, which is divided into two parts by a gully. The 

 upper portion of the Northampton half of this peak is formed 

 into a distinct "hog back." Both of these sentinels reach fif- 

 teen hundred feet above sea-level, and the view from the top of 

 either is very extensive, taking in the full sweep of the valley of 

 the Lehigh. 



As far back as 1845, Rupp * describes the passage through 

 the Lecha Wasser-Kaft, or Lehigh Gap, in terms which put the 

 English language severely to task, but the general facts of which, 

 aside from the redundancy of adjectives, are quite true to nature. 



The country along the valleys of the river and the Aquanchi- 

 cola creek has, to a great extent, been cleared, but the sections 

 a short distance back and on the mountains are almost wholly 

 clothed with forest. The greater part is, of course, second 

 growth, but some patches and scattered trees remain of the 

 original hemlocks. These patriarchs rear their heads above the 

 surrounding forest, and the mouldering, prostrate trunks of 

 many of their brethren may be found on the slopes. The valley 

 region and the lower slopes, as a rule, bear mixed deciduous 

 forest, chestnut predominating; while the immediate river bank 

 is clothed with willows. On the upper slopes of the mountains 

 the timber is smaller and poor, while the tops themselves are 

 covered with a scragged growth, almost entirely pines and very 

 open in character. A number of open, park-like spots on the 

 very summits are thickly overgrown with two species of huckle- 

 berries. 



Hemlock is the prevailing tree in the gully on the north- 

 eastern peak, and a small patch exists at the base of the south- 

 western dome, but elsewhere it is the exception. 



* History of Northampton, Lehigh, Monroe, Carbon and Schuylkill Counties, 

 Harrisburg, pp. 113, 114. 



