Alpine Blossoms of the Dome 209 



we saw the ruins of a wood-chopper's log cabin, which 

 assured us that brook or spring must be near, else the 

 spot never would have been chosen for man's habita- 

 tion. Above the hut, we came to a clearing. A level 

 stretch led to the junction of two roads : one led directly- 

 ahead, terminating on the Ladd Lot, while the path to 

 the right turned abruptly up the steeps to the summit 

 of the Dome. The last few rods were the steepest por- 

 tion of the whole journey, the rest of the climb having 

 wound around about in gradual ascent. 



At last we walked along the edges of a precipice 

 above Bear Swamp. In the scorching heat of noon we 

 made one last turn eastward, entering the clearing on 

 the very brow of the desolate Dome, three thousand 

 feet above the sea. Here were dense groups of beauti- 

 ful spruces and balsam-firs. The forest floor was 

 carpeted with luxuriant leaves of clintonia and dwarf 

 dogwood, — sometimes wrongly called bear - berries. 

 The latter, an Alpine species, was still in bloom, the 

 flower sometimes having two whorls of rosy-tinted 

 petals. The mountain snowberry, creeping winter- 

 green, trailing arbutus, and goldthread were clinging 

 to the sphagnous hummocks over the summit, while 

 Alpine species of huckleberries crept through the clear- 

 ing and draped the white-faced rocks. 



The great stillness of Nature's solitude was broken 

 only by the buzzing of insects, the notes of the chicka- 

 dees, and the winds soughing through the boughs of 

 spruce and firs. The brow of the Majestic Dome re- 

 ceives the force of the eight winds of heaven direct from 



