Eastern Townships. 53 



very snmmit, is entirely destitute of trees, and nearly so of 

 vegetation. The portion that is bare presents little else to 

 the view than great masses of granite rock, thrown together 

 apparently in one of Nature's wildest convulsions. No view 

 in the whole Eastern Townships presents so singular an ap- 

 pearance as this comparatively unknown spot. The bluif, 

 that rises perpendicularly from the water, seems, with its 

 storm-scathed brow, to prop the very heavens, its gray 

 shadows strongly contrasting with the deep blue sky ; when 

 seen at sunset through a hazy atmosphere and with a rich 

 glow of yellow and crimson, with clouds touching the out- 

 line of the distant hills, it recalls memories of Italian 

 landscapes, and paintings of the fancy viewed in boyhood's 

 days. In the distance the wood-crowned hills fade away ; in 

 the foreground the reflection of the mount on the lake renders 

 by contrast the height ten-fold. About ten miles west of this 

 lake lies Stanstead, more famiharly known as Stanstead 

 Plain, a very busy, thriving town, and the business centre 

 of this part of the country. It is beautifully situated on a 

 plain, wheifce its name, and commands a great range of 

 mountain scenery, extending along the Green Mountains of 

 Vermont, and their continuation into Canada. Rock-Island 

 is a village situated so near as to form part of Stanstead, 

 although out of the municipaUty. It is about equi-distant 

 (twenty miles) from five different railway stations, viz. : 

 Waterville, Compton, Coaticooke and Island Pond, on the 

 Grand Trunk; and Barton, Vt, on the Conn, and Pass. 

 Railroads : the latter line, it is expected, will be completed 

 to Newport, Vt., within seven miles, thus affording easier 

 access, although stage connection to all parts from here is 

 very good. The Stanstead, Shefford and Chambly Railroad, 

 whose terminus is now at Waterloo, when extended here will 

 form a link, the want of which is much felt. A stage 

 running from here to Compton, on the Grand Trunk Railway, 

 passes through Hatley, about a mile from which place lies 



