26 Account of the Kaatskill Mountains. 
of the lakes the hickory, white oak and chesnut, which are 
- abundant on the eastern side of the ridge, are seldom if ever 
found.* 
Shrubs. 
Below the mountain and east of the lakes, the whortle- 
berry grows in great abundance. West of them they are 
very rarely if ever found. J ascended the peak near which 
the lakes are situated, on the first of October, 1816, and 
found them just beginning to be ripe. The laurel is very 
frequent on the eastern as well as the western side of the 
ridge. With this exception, the trees and shrubs which are 
numerous on the eastern side of the mountain, are seldom i 
ever found west of the ridge, nature having drawn this ridge 
_as a boundary or dividing line between her productions. 
Strawberries ripen here, about one month later than at 
the base of the mountain. This fruit is succeeded by the 
black and red raspberry in great profusion. As soon as 
these disappear, the blakberry succeeds them in great 
abundance. These fruits are indigenous to the soil, always 
springing up after the woods have been cleared and the 
trees burned. They are of a fine flavour, having as much 
sacharine matter as those which grow several thousand feet 
below. ‘The Juniper berry is in many parts of the moun- 
ae very abundant. Deer, in the winter season, when: 
nes and small shrubs are covered with snow, find this 
dhl only { 
Streams. 
The principal streams which rise in these mountains, are 
the Kaaterskill and the Schohariekill, which are formed by 
numerous branches. The former, before it reaches the base 
of the mountain receiving additions from eight or ten tribu- 
taries, the latter from as many as twenty. These streams 
rise within a few miles of each other, the Kaaterskill descen- 
ding the mountain in an easterly direction and joining the 
* For this description of the trees and shrubs, I am much indebted to my 
friend W. W. Edwards Esq. of Hunter, New-York. 
