THE HEART OF THE SOUTHERN CATSKILLS 47 



sure to attract one's attention, even if he have no 

 eye for such things. They are masses of light red- 

 dish conglomerate, composed of round wave-worn 

 quartz pebbles. Every pebble had been shaped and 

 polished upon some ancient seacoast, probably the 

 Devonian. The rock disintegrates where it is most 

 exposed to the weather, and forms a loose sandy and 

 pebbly soil. These rocks form the floor of the coal 

 formation, but in the Catskill region only the floor 

 remains ; the superstructure has never existed, or has 

 been swept away ; hence one would look for a coal 

 mine here over his head in the air, rather than 

 under his feet. 



This rock did not have to climb up here as we 

 did ; the mountain stooped and took it upon its back 

 in the bottom of the old seas, and then got lifted up 

 again. This happened so long ago that the memory 

 of the oldest inhabitant of these parts yields no clue 

 to the time. 



A pleasant task we had in reflooring and reroofing 

 the log- hut with balsam boughs against the night. 

 Plenty of small balsams grew all about, and we soon 

 had a huge pile of their branches in the old hut. 

 What a transformation, this fresh green carpet and 

 our fragrant bed, like the deep-furred robe of some 

 huge animal wrought in that dingy interior! Two 

 or three things disturbed our sleep. A cup of strong 

 beef-tea taken for supper disturbed mine; then the 

 porcupines kept up such a grunting and chattering 

 near our heads, just on the other side of the log, that 

 sleep was difficult. In my wakeful mood I was a 



