TOPOGRAPHY. 185 



districts. It is embraced in the remote portions of the towns of Gorham, 

 Randolph, Jefferson, Lancaster, Stark, Milan, Berlin, and the whole of 

 Kilkenny. It may be bounded by the Upper Ammonoosuc and Andros- 

 coggin rivers on the north and east, by Moose and Israel's rivers on the 

 south, and the Connecticut slope on the west. From the extreme out- 

 lying foot hill on the west line of Stark to Gorham, the longest diameter 

 of this group, the distance is sixteen miles. The greatest width is thir- 

 teen miles, or from Jefferson hill to Milan water-station. The shape of 

 the area, as mapped, is oval-elliptical, being more pointed at the north 

 than the south. The area may comprise 150 square miles. 



The Upper Ammonoosuc river flows in a broad valley in Randolph 

 and Berlin, and thereby divides the group into two parts. The source, 

 called the Pond of Safety, is nearly 900 feet above Milan water-station, 

 and there is a depression in the ridge in the south towards Jefferson. 

 For geological reasons, we understand that the northern portion of the 

 Starr King region was once an immense plateau, and the numerous 

 valleys in it now are the result of atmospheric erosion. Not less than 

 seven streams have notched in the edge of this plateau, the three most 

 prominent erosions being from Berlin, Stark (Mill brook), and Lancaster. 

 There is a central ridge through Kilkenny, the Pilot mountain range, 

 connected by a valley with Mt. Starr King in Jefferson. A branch 

 diverges from this range to Pilot mountain in Stark, formerly ascended 

 by a foot-path from Lost Nation. Green's ledge and Black mountain 

 are spurs to the east from the Pilot range. 



From Mt. Starr King to Berlin Falls there runs an irregularly curved 

 range. It is composed of Pliny, Randolph, and Crescent mountains, and 

 Mt. Forest. Section X passes through the centre of this district from 

 Berlin Falls to Lancaster, from which the reader may learn the irregulari- 

 ties of the surface-profile. Mts. Starr King, Pilot, and Randolph are the 

 culminating points, being 3,800, 3,640, and 3,043 feet respectively. The 

 region is entirely covered by a forest. 



2. Mt. Carter Group. This lies in Shelburne, Bean's Purchase, Chat- 

 ham, and Jackson, and is the least known of all the mountain districts. 

 I do not find any explorer of it anxious to continue his investigations 

 therein. The mountains, however, are like all other elevated tracts of 

 land far away from habitations. There seems to be a heavy range from 

 VOL. i. 26 



