136 THE MOUNTAIN. 



the above chemists, who tested it, "may be termed a water 

 of great purity." 



Of the class of proper chalybeate waters there are seve- 

 ral springs in the neighborhood of the hotels, coming from 

 slates and shales lower down in the series, the most distin- 

 guished of which is 



"IGNATIUS' SPRING." 



This is a strong iron water, depositing, as it flows, quanti- 

 ties of ochery precipitates of hydrated peroxide of iron, from 

 escape of the carbonic acid gas. It has been named after 

 the venerable huntsman (Ignatius Adams) who first dis- 

 covered its life-preserving powers, and gave to the world, 

 in his own person, a revelation of the secret of its true 

 medicinal properties. By drinking this water, dwelling 

 in the woods, and eating venison, he has lived to near 

 the good old age of one hundred years. It seemed but a 

 just tribute to his worth to give his name to the spring. It 

 has, however, always been called the " SULPHUR SPRING," 

 although chemical analysis has given the presence of no sul- 

 phuretted hydrogen gas in its waters. It was supposed to 

 be sulphureous from its depositing the bright-yellow ochery 

 oxide of iron, imagined to be sulphur, and also from a tra- 

 dition connected with Ignatius, as one of the intrepid Nim- 

 rods of the Alleghany Mountain, and his well-known love 

 for, and faith in gun-powder. The tradition of the origin 

 of its sulphureous character has never been considered an 

 idle tale, as it was generally believed by the natives that 

 " Old Ig.," as he is sometimes profanely called by the boys, 

 had, on some occasion of glory, spilled the contents of his 

 powder-horn into the spring, and that it has tasted of gun- 

 powder and been depositing sulphur ever since. If they had 

 substituted INK-HORN for powder-horn, the association of its 

 sensible properties with the tradition of their origin would 

 have been very close to the fact as it now exists, possessing, 

 as it does, the actual taste of ink, but it would not have 

 fitted so appropriately the character of the old huntsman. 



