SALMON LAKE. '181 



another chain of mountains towards the west, a 

 chain more imposing than that which has just been 

 quitted. These are the Catskill Mountains, whose 

 summits attain a height of four thousand feet ; but 

 unfortunately for the curious they remain always in 

 the back-ground, and only approach the river to 

 retreat immediately into the distance. A volume 

 would be required to give the reader even the 

 faintest idea of the picture which I have audaciously 

 attempted to paint. How can I convey a tithe of 

 those thousand details which excite the admiration 

 every moment ? How paint the streamlet which flows 

 capriciously in a microscopic cascade down the face 

 of the rock, and falls like a silver thread into the 

 thick mossy carpet which lines the bank ? How 

 shall I describe the innumerable bays which are 

 formed by the banks of the river where it receives 

 its affluents, and the eyots which lie in the middle 

 of its course ? How enumerate, without making 

 my description as monotonous as an itinerary, the 

 towns, villages, and houses which arise out of the 

 banks, as it were, at every turn of the paddle, some- 

 times upon the summit of a hill, but most frequently 

 on the side of some gentle slope. 



When the Catskill Mountains disappear on the 

 horizon, a new phase appears in the physiognomy of 

 Nature, The hills grow less in height and the woods 

 disappear, giving place to fields in full cultivation. 

 The farm and the manufactory have taken the place 



