76 Notices of Mount Washington and the vicinity. 
directly upon them. Had they remained in the house they would 
have been safe, and in emerging, they ran to destruction ; for at 
the distance of only a few yards from their dwelling, the fatal 
torrent overtook them and swept them away.* The view here 
presented of the mountain sides, on the right and left, is terrific 
in the extreme. Enormous ledges of rock hang over them, frown- 
ing upon the traveller below. Beautiful cascades likewise may 
be seen, tumbling down over these cragged steeps, and whirling 
in crystal eddies in the deep fountains which they have worn in 
the rocks. Ispent some time in searching for quartz crystals, 
which are frequently found among the hills. They are of the 
brown or smoky variety, sometimes very large and beautiful, and 
are kept for sale at the public houses. After travelling some dis- 
tance amidst such scenery as this, we at length emerged from the 
region of mountains and plunged again into a wide forest, which 
intervenes between the ‘ White hills’ and the city of Portland. 
Remarks by the Editor. 
There are many facts connected with the physical features of 
these mountains that are worthy of description. Among them 
no one is more remarkable, than the trap dykes which frequently 
intersect the granite mountains, cutting them from top to base, 
and downward, into profound and unfathomable depths; their 
dark massy walls form a striking contrast with the white, gray, or 
red granite, or granitic schists, through which they have forced 
their way. But we leave the description of them to Prof. Hub- 
bard, of Dartmouth College, whose account will be found in this 
number of our work. 
Being for the second time, among the White mountains in the 
last week of August, of the late season of 1837, I ascended Mount 
Washington on the first of September, in company with my son 
and two gentlemen of Boston. 
The day was mild, and in the main the atmosphere was clear, 
with oceasional flying clouds, flitting over the sun, which fre- 
quently burst out with autumnal splendor, and illumined all the 
magnificent mountain groups, and valleys, and defiles, that cover 
this truly alpine region. The traveller who undertakes the as- 
cent bof eet Mount Washington, must lay his account to severe iment 
additional particulars of the catastrophe of the Willey family, ee, 
oy ie iar montane yn al XV. p. 220, of this Journal. I vis-’ 
ited this place in 1823, with some friends, tw. years after the event —Ed. 
