the White- Hills of ' Nexu-Hampshire. 2<j 



At 12 o'clock, on the 12th of July, the mercury in 

 Fahrenheit's thermometer stood at 66°, upon the top of 

 Mount- Washington. At the same hour, on the same 

 day, it stood at 89° at Hanover. We found a spring 

 upon the summit, the temperature of whose water was 

 51°. 



Many of our party felt such a chill, from the low- 

 ness of the temperature, as induced them to call for the 

 additional covering of a woollen blanket. 



The champaign upon the summit of Mount- Wash- 

 ington comprises between three and four acres of 

 ground. This is principally solid rock, or rather a 

 ledge of rocks. The occasional attrition of water upon 

 them, for a series of ages, from the quantities of rain 

 which fall upon lofty mountains, seems to have wrought 

 upon their surface irregular grooves, in appearance not 

 unlike the tracks of Turkies. The consequence of this 

 operation has been the formation, in certain places, of a 

 siliceous soil, very shallow in depth, upon which grows 

 a little wild grass, and a green-coloured moss. Speci- 

 mens of the diiferent kinds of stone to be found upon 

 the sides, or summit, of the mountain, I shall send to 

 you. 



The phenomenon which most attracted my attention, 

 while upon the top of the mountain, was the rarity of 

 the atmosphere. Sound was much more impeded than 

 respiration. The noise from the violent collision of 

 one stone upon another, seemed but stagnating pulsa- 

 tions of air from the roar of distant waters. The direc- 



