Jlr. Barnes^ Section of the Canaan Mountain, Sfc. 15 



with houses, and gardens, and orchards and groves, pre- 

 sents the beauty of a populous village, and the variety of a 

 cuhivated country. On the east, Hancock mountain rises 



with a boh! swell, adorned on the side nearest the observer^ 

 with the village of the New-Lebanon Shakers, visited by 



every traveller, and celebrated for its peculiar neatness and 

 simple elegance — for its rich gardens, and highly cultivated 

 fields — lor the regularity of its buildings, and the elegance 

 of its manufactures^ — for the celibacy of its inhabitants and 

 the inoffensive simplicity of their manners. Beyond the 

 \'ale of Lebanon, and distant twenty miles, Saddle mountain 

 " the highest land in Massachusetts" rears its broad double 

 back to the skies, and from its cloud-capt height looks down 

 in grandeur on the inferiour world. Turning again to the 

 west, and extending the view, we perceive the hills gradual- 

 ly declining, and catch a glance of the Hudson River at 

 the distance of twenty-four miles, with the white sails of 

 vessels on its surface, alternately appearing and disappear- 

 ing, as they float in the wind. The richness and the varie- 

 ty, the sublime extent and picturesque beauty of this scene 

 are equalled by few in our country. Beyond the Hudson, 

 Catskill mountains robed in azure hue, and steeped in ha- 

 zy distance, rise to view in long parallel ranges " height o'er 

 height" to the clouds, and like Atlas appear to support the 

 heavens on their shoulders. This grand panorama is bound- 

 ed by one of the most sublime objects in nature, and the 

 pleasure felt in the contemplation of the nearer view, yields 

 to astonishment at the grandeur of the more distant pros- 

 pect. 



Disruption and sinking of the Strata. — The whole of the 

 rock formation, described in this paper, appears to have 

 been broken off from the primitive tract on the East of it, 

 and to have sunken doion about one thousand feet perpendic- 

 ularly. We had no means of accurate admeasurement. We 

 estimated the distance by comparing it w^ith other ascertained 

 and well known heights. Hancock mountain is a part of 

 the same mean height as the Highlands of the Hudson. The 

 average of the four highest points mentioned in Dr. Akerly's 



Geology ofthe Hudson River" is fourteen hundred and sev- 

 enty feet. Allowing the highest peaks to be one fourth high- 

 er than the mountain generally, we shall have eleven hun- 

 dred feet as the permanent elevation. It would therefore 



a 



