BalL'FAce Mountain. 273 



fifty feet above the surrounding foliage, and tlien 



spreads out in a broad evergreen tuft, like an urn- 



brella. This curious tree may be seen for miles, 



standing there solitary and alone, like a giant among 



pigmies, and, not inaptly, gives a cognomen to the 



little island above which it towers. 



Away off to the north-east, miles and miles away, 



the mountain |)eaks are seen, moveless and solemn, 



like vast pillars sustaining the sky. Conspicuous and 



tallest among them is the Ball-face Mountain. This 



gigantic peak seems to be everywhere present. You 



see it from Keeseville, seemingly between you and 



the Saranacs. You see it from " The Forks," twelve 



miles up the Au Sable, apparently in the same place 



and at about the same distance. It is before you still, 



when you cross the high table land, ten miles further 



on. It looks down upon you from the Franklin Falls, 



another ten miles further west. It is in plain sight 



here, five and twenty miles west again. You see it as 



you are floating on Tapper's Lake, still another thirty 



miles west, and you rejoice that you have weathered 



the giant, that seems to be watching you all the long 



day. This lofty peak goes up from a range of moun» 



tains, which lays between the sources of the Saranac 



12* 



