XVIII 



THe Natural Bridge of MayunsooK 

 Valley, Northern BerKsKire 



There 's no music like a little river's. It plays the same 

 tune (and that's the favorite) over and over again, and yet does 

 not weary of it like men fiddlers. — Robert Louis Steven- 

 son, Prince Otto. 



A NARROW vale winds away northeastward 

 from the city of North Adams to Stamford, 

 Vermont. A short walk from the terminus 

 of the car line in The Beaver leads to the 

 junction of Hudson Brook with the Mayunsook River. 

 The Mayunsook is often called the Little Deerfield. 

 It is the North Branch of the Hoosac, rising near 

 Stamford Ponds, and draining the southern and western 

 slopes above Stamford Hollow. The Greater Deerfield 

 River rises also near these lakes, and drains the same 

 mountains from their northern and eastern slopes, 

 flowing around through Readsboro to Zoar, where 

 travellers meet it as they pass out of the eastern portal 

 of the Hoosac Tunnel into the Deerfield Valley. Thus, 

 from their mysterious sources our turbulent rivers and 

 mountain streams bring restful, cooling news from out 

 the higher lands, where scarce the foot of man has been. 

 On August yth I explored about Natural Bridge on 

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