EXPLORATIONS AMONG THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 117 



May 11. A wintry sky and winter scenery this morning : the sky a pale blue, and the 

 sunshine that of December. The clouds presented an infinite variety of shades gray, 

 brown, and dingy black. Distant mountains showed clear cut outlines ; snowy peaks 

 of the higher mountains glisten in the morning light. Looking beyond them we see a 

 change. The Androscoggin is broader, and its waters sparkle in the play of sunlight; 

 the valleys are bare and brown. Last winter, the river was a silver thread ; the low- 

 lands white as are these summits now. Only these differences between a pleasant 

 morning last December and this. Twenty degrees at 7 A. M. 



Mr. Huntington expects to leave us soon. How quickly the winter has passed, spite 

 of storms, hurricanes, and clouds, of discomfort, and rather hard fare, and the many 

 deprivations. Smith is still far from well. To endure, without suffering in some 

 respect the sudden changes of weather, one needs an iron constitution ; and any one 

 that stays here should have a will equally as strong. It is hard on an invalid. I can 

 bear testimony to that. 



May 12. The last press telegram goes to-night. Nor shall we any longer have pleas- 

 ant evening chats by telegraph with Prof. Hitchcock at Hanover. Smith is at the depot 

 to-night ; and the telegraph has no word for us. 



May 14. The wind was high as 80, if not higher, during the night. All day, as 

 usual, it has been cloudy, and frost-work forming. Temperature at 7 A. m. was n, 

 and highest for the day, at 9 p. m., 21 . At no time was the wind lower than 46. Mr. 

 Huntington left at 9 a. m., in the face of a 48-mile gale, and the temperature only 14 . 

 I am anxious for his safety, and shall be till Smith returns. To-night, for the first time, 

 I am keeping "watch and ward" on the mountain-top alone. 



The winter's work is done. We trust that it has not been time and labor lost. 

 Storms of unparalleled severity, when, for days in succession, the summit was enveloped 

 in clouds, and the hurricanes lasted longer, and were more violent than any yet recorded 

 in the United States, together with very low temperatures, have been a part of our 

 experience. 



Though interesting, these grand atmospheric disturbances are not the most enjoyable 

 features of mountain life. There were mornings when the atmosphere was so trans- 

 parent, and the sky so pure a blue, with not a fleck of cloud, the snowy mountain- 

 peaks so dazzlingly white, their forms so clearly outlined and standing up in such bold 

 relief, that they seemed the creation of yesterday ; and mornings when earth and sky, 

 forests, lakes, and rivers, and the clouds above, wore a radiance and richness of color 

 never seen in other than mountain regions and from the loftiest elevations. There 

 were days when the shifting views of each hour furnished new wonders and new beau- 

 ties, in the play of sunlight and changing cloud-forms, every hour a picture in itself, 

 and perfect in details. Sunsets, too, when an ocean of clouds surrounded this island- 

 like summit, the only one of all the many high peaks visible above the cloud billows, 

 all else of earth hidden from sight. There were times when this aerial sea was bur- 

 nished silver, smooth and calm ; and times when its tossing waves were tipped with 

 crimson and golden fire. 



