24 NEW HAMPSHIRE 



mountains, a glorious company : Mount Wash- 

 ington and its fellows, with all their higher parts 

 white; the sombre mass of the Twins on this 

 side of them ; and, nearer still, the long, sharp, 

 purple crest of dear old Lafayette and its south- 

 ern neighbors. So many I can name. The rest 

 are mountains only ; a wilderness of heaped- 

 up, forest-covered land ; a prospect to dilate the 

 soul. 



My expectation has been to stay here for two 

 hours or more ; but the wind is merciless, and 

 after going out over the broad, bare, boulder- 

 sprinkled summit till I can see down into Fran- 

 conia (which looks pretty low and pretty far off, 

 though I distinguish certain of the buildings 

 clearly enough), I begin to feel that I shall enjoy 

 the sight of my eyes better from some sheltered 

 position on the upper part of the road. Even on 

 the ridge, however, I take advantage of every 

 tuft of spruces to stand still for a bit, looking 

 especially at the mountain itself, so big, so bare, 

 and so solid : East Peak, South Peak, and the 

 Peak, as they are called, although neither of 

 them is in the slightest degree peaked, with the 

 great gulf of Jobildunk in which Baker's 

 Eiver rises wedged among them. If the word 

 Moosilauke means a " bald place," as it is said 

 to do, then we have here another proof of the 



