48 DESCRIPTION or THE 
of them; and in the courfe of a day thefe {pots may be feen 
to vary according to the pofition of the fun. 
It may not be amifs to query here, if fo great a quan- 
tity of fnow is accumulated and remains on thefe moun= 
tains, may it not be fuppofed to add a keennefs to the 
winds which blow over them? Andhowmany more moun- 
tains may there be toward the north and weft, whofe hoary: 
fummits contain the like or greater bodies of {now and ice,, 
fome of which, at the remoteft regions, may remain un- 
diffolved through the year? May we not then afcribe the 
piercing cold of our north-weft winds to the infinite ranges 
of frozen mountains, rather than to the lakes and forefts ? 
Thefe immenfe heights which I have been defcribing, 
being copioufly replenished with water, exhibit a variety 
of beautiful cafcades, fome of which fall in a perpendicu= 
lar fheet or fpout, others are winding and narrow, others 
fpread on the level furface of fome wide rock and then 
gufh in cataracts over its edge. A romantic imagination 
may find full gratification amidft thefe rugged fcenes, if 
its ardor be not checked by the fatigue of the approach. 
Three of the largeft rivers in New-England receive a great 
part of their waters from this region. Amonoofuck and 
Ifrael rivers, two principal branches of Conneticut, fall 
from the weftern fide of the mountains, Peabody river and 
another branch of Amarifcogin from the north-eaftern fide, 
and almoft the whole of Saco defcends from the fouthern 
fide. The declivities being very fteep caufe this latter 
river to rife very fuddenly in a time of rain, and as fud~ 
denly to fubfide. 
On the weftern part of thefe mountains is a pafs which 
in the narrowelt place meafures but twenty two feet be- 
tween two perpendicular rocks. Here a road is conftrudt=- 
ing with great labor and expence, which is the fhorteft 
rout to the upper Cohofs on Conne@icut river, and to that 
part of Canada which borders on the river St. Francis. At 
the height of this narrow pafs the river Saco takes its rife. 
A brook 
