Plants seen about the Region of the Notch. 535 



turesqueness, and used to be visited for that end before the 

 erection of a substantial saw-mill, whose proposed utility can 

 be considered as the chief excuse of its otherwise objection- 

 able presence in so peculiar a spot. If you will take your 

 stand upon this bridge, and face the mountain, Avhich lies a 

 little to the right, as you look up the supposable course of 

 Nancy's River, you may perceive, against the dark green 

 foliage, a long narrow streak of white, and, if blessed with a 

 distant power of sight, may notice a slight undulation or 

 waving adown its track. Crossing the bridge then, and 

 proceeding down the public road for the distance of some 

 half mile, you enter a very rude and rough wood road, and 

 strike upon the stream, whose circuitous course bears the 

 waters of Halfway River, and will furnish the botanist a 

 rich harvest of curious plants, which invest its shaded rocks 

 and fringe its rushing current. It were hardly necessary to 

 state how often some stain-like spot on the surface of a 

 smooth wet stone would arrest our attention, indicating a 

 beautiful species of lichen ; or how the old rough gray bark 

 of some noble forest tree would furnish the reasons for an 

 half hour's delay in quest of an almost microscopic plant, 

 which nestled in its chinks. Nor need I tell of the patient 

 labor, the delicate touch, the curious eye, and the successful 

 chiselling off of some fragment, which he, who bore the 

 hammer and chisel, with an artist's skill evinced. SufSce 

 that our labor was not in vain nor our search profitless. 



After some hours of such progressive advance as our incli- 

 nations prompted, we arrived at the foot of the waterfall 

 towards which we had bent our course. Some hard climb- 

 ing up the steep and precipitous rocks began to be needed 

 ere we gained a full view of the descending sheet. This 

 was easier accomplished by all the party than by the "Major," 

 whose obesity overcame his resolutions. A friendly pull by 

 the nape of the neck greatly facilitated his endeavors, so that 

 the difficulty which he encountered was removed. It seemed 

 like rough usage towards a friend, but such a friend was too 

 generous to take offence. Delighting as he did in any moun- 

 tain ramble, however protracted or tedious, he could not 



