BIRCH BROWSINGS. 207 



Catskills, which from a point near Sauger- 

 ties sweep inland ; after a drive of a few 

 hours, you are within the shadow of a high, 

 bold mountain, which forms a sort of but- 

 end to this part of the range, and which is 

 simply called High Point. To the east and 

 southeast it slopes down rapidly to the plain, 

 and looks defiance toward the Hudson, 

 twenty miles distant ; in the rear of it, and 

 radiating from it west and northwest, are 

 numerous smaller ranges, backing up, as it 

 were, this haughty chief. 



From this point through to Pennsylvania, 

 a distance of nearly one hundred miles, 

 stretches the tract of which I speak. It is 

 a belt of country from twenty to thirty miles 

 wide, bleak and wild, and but sparsely set- 

 tled. The traveller on the New York and 

 Erie Railroad gets a glimpse of it. 



Many cold, rapid trout streams, which 

 flow to all points of the compass, have their 

 source in the small lakes and copious moun- 

 tain springs of this region. The names of 

 some of them are Mill Brook, Dry Brook, 

 Willewemack, Beaver Kill, Elk Bush Kill, 

 Panther Kill, Neversink, Big Ingin, and 

 Callikoon. Beaver Kill is the main outlet 

 on the west. It joins the Delaware in the 



