96 THE MOUNTAIN. 



Standing on its highest knobs, in the central part of Penn- 

 sylvania, the beholder is presented with the most ex- 

 quisite and sublime panoramas of the earth. North and 

 south, the range of spurs stretches off into the .distance, the 

 parallel chains east and west sweeping in majestic curves to 

 unite apparently in vast circular mountains. 



To the west, the table-land valleys extend a rolling sur- 

 face between the Alleghany and parallel ridges ; and suc- 

 ceeding this are the western mountains, with slightly undu- 

 lating crests rising in succession until lost in the distance. 



Looking east toward the Atlantic Ocean, the vision is 

 one for the expression of whose beauty there is, as yet, no 

 voice or word. 



Immediately below reposes the range of beautiful valleys 

 at the southeastern base of the Alleghanies, their northwestern 

 margins sloping up to the mountain in a range of round, 

 soft, billowy hills, as it were, the gentle heavings of a sum- 

 mer sea, breaking against the shore upon whose rocky 

 heights the beholder stands. Rising from the southeast 

 side of these valleys is the first chain of sharp, regular, Ap- 

 palachian mountains, formed by the hard rocks in the lower 

 part of the series. Succeeding this is another of the same 

 kind of mountains, and beyond this others still of the same 

 order, the spaces between the lines which are made of their 

 crests becoming less and less, as the obliquity of the lines 

 becomes greater and greater. 



It is also beautiful to perceive that, in the space between 

 each of these lines which represents the distance between 

 the mountain summits, the tint, from the increased dis- 

 tance, becomes deeper and deeper, until lost in the clear 

 blue of ether. As the eye follows the azure steps of this 

 kingly portal to the skies, line rising above line, it can 

 scarcely be realized that, within each of these tints of deeper 

 blue, there reposes a range of the richest and loveliest lime- 

 stone valleys of Pennsylvania. Often, with bars of clouds 

 reposing on the horizon, it is impossible for the eye to dis- 



