Il6 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



winter. Hermit lake really breaking up, and the stream open above. We could see 

 the pretty cascade some distance above the lake, and hear the rushing waters, now 

 loudly as the wind arose, now softly murmuring as it fell. Half way down the northern 

 side, under a sheltering rock, we lunched on hard tack and sugar, drinking the pure 

 water of a little rill which ran down among the rocks. Then for an hour we climbed 

 the crags, getting views from many different points. 



Came away at 3 P. M., too early to go home, so decided on a trip to the north-eastern 

 spur of Washington. Passed a deep spring of excellent water, which in my jaunts I 

 had never seen, then visited the ravine beyond. In some respects this is even more 

 interesting than Tuckerman's, for what is wanting in extent is made up in boldness of 

 outline, its steep, sloping northern side, and sheer precipice of two hundred feet or 

 more on the south. Seven seconds was the time taken, by repeated trials, for a stone 

 to reach the bottom. We propose that Huntingtoii's Ravine shall be its future 

 designation. [See frontispiece.] 



May 3. Snowing all night, and cloudy all day. Mr. Smith sick, seems no better; 

 a rough place to be sick in ; safe from the doctors, he has that comfort ! 



May 4. Another tough snow-storm. ... A pair of birds have made the house 

 their home of late. To-day, especially, they have hardly been out. This afternoon 

 they have sung several songs for our benefit. To-night they sit on the beam over this 

 room, close by the flue, and we can occasionally hear them twitter, softly calling to 

 each other. 



On May 6, Messrs. Holden and Nelson visited Mt. Adams. A description of a 

 phenomenon seen on their return is given as follows : "In ascending the cone of Mt. 

 Washington we again got above the cloud level, and enjoyed a rare sunset scene. We 

 also witnessed a veritable battle of the clouds. The wind, which had been very light 

 throughout the day, had appeared to come from different directions at different points, 

 now from the east, in another place from the north or north-west, and again from the 

 west or south-west. We had ascended a little distance above the Gulf tank, when we 

 turned and observed two ghostly armies approaching each other, one from the direction 

 of Mt. Monroe, and the other from out the depths of the Great Gulf. Noiselessly 

 they marched onward, and the conflict came near the gap between Mts. Washington 

 and Clay. The battle was short and decisive. Little fragments of cloud, like wreaths 

 of smoke, were flung high in air, and there seemed a momentary indecision, but the 

 fleecy forms from the south-west were soon fleeing before the fast gathering hosts of 

 the east, until all were commingled in one shadowy mass." 



May 7. The barometer fell 5o-iooths from last night at 9 o'clock to this morning at 

 7 o'clock. Wind rising at 3 A. M., reaching the highest velocity at 2 P. M., which was 

 67, highest recorded for some time, forcibly reminding us of the winter months. 

 Snowing all day ; the whirling, driving clouds of snow made it far from pleasant to 

 stay out for three minutes, the time occupied in taking the force of the wind. At 

 5 P. M. the cloud passed off, and we could see that not the mountains alone, but the 

 lower country as well, were "snow bound." 



