206 BIRCH BROWSINGS. 



enticed the lumberman and tanner. Except 

 in remote or inaccessible localities, the latter 

 tree is now almost never found. In Shan- 

 daken and along the Esopus, it is about the 

 only product the country yielded, or is likely 

 to yield. Tanneries by the score have arisen 

 and flourished upon the bark, and some of 

 them still remain. Passing through that 

 region the present season, I saw that the 

 few patches of hemlock that still lingered 

 high up on the sides of the mountains were 

 being felled and peeled, the fresh white 

 boles of the trees, just stripped of their 

 bark, being visible a long distance. 



Among these mountains there are no sharp 

 peaks, or abrupt declivities, as in a volcanic 

 region, but long, uniform ranges, heavily 

 timbered to their summits, and delighting 

 the eye with vast, undulating horizon lines. 

 Looking south from the heights about the 

 head of the Delaware, one sees, twenty miles 

 away, a continual succession of blue ranges, 

 one behind the other. If a few large trees 

 are missing on the sky line, one can see the 

 break a long distance off. 



Approaching this region from the Hud- 

 son River side, you cross a rough, rolling 

 stretch of country, skirting the base of the 



