46 DESCRIPTION or THE 
It happened unfortunately for our company, that a thick 
cloud covered the mountain almoft the whole time that 
they were onit, fo that fome of theinftruments which, with 
much labor they had carried up, were ufelefs. Inthe ba- 
rometer the mercury ranged at 22.6 inches, in 44 de- 
grees of heat by Fahrenheit’s thermometer. It was our in- 
tention to have placed one of each of thefe'inftruments at 
the foot of the mountain, at the fame time that others were 
carried to the top; but they were unhappily broken.in the 
courfe of our journey, and the barometer which was carried 
to the furnmit, had fuffered fo much agitation that an allow- 
ance was neceflary to be made in calculating the height of 
the mountain, which our ingenious companion, the Rev. 
Mr. Cutler, of Ipfwich, eftimates in round numbers at 5500 
feet above the meadow, the meadow being 3500 feet above 
the level of the fea, and this feems to be as low an eftima- 
tion as can be admitted. We intended to have made a ge- 
ometrical menfuration of the altitude, but in one place 
where we attempted it, we could not obtain a bafe of fuf- 
ficient length, and in another, where this convenience was 
removed, we were prevented by the almoft continual ob- 
{curations of the mountains by clouds. 
On every fide of thefe mountains are many long wind- 
ing gullies, beginning at the precipice below the plain and 
deepening in the defcent; they are from one hundred to one 
thoufand feet deep, and perhaps more. In winter, the {now 
‘driving with the north-weft winds over the tops of the 
mountains, is lodged in thefe gullies, and forms a compact 
body which is not eafily diffolved by the vernal fun. It 
is obferved to lie longer on the fouth, than on the north- 
weit fides; which is the cafe with moft other hills in this 
part of the country. In 1774 fome men who were at work 
on a road under the eaftern fide of the mountain, afcended 
to the fummit on the 6th of June, and upon the fouth fide 
found a body of {now thirteen feet deep, and fo hard as to 
bear 
