NEW ENGLAND AND THE AKOOSTOOK. 97 



been erected by some former visitor, but overgrown with moss. 

 While sitting on the south side of the monument at twelve 

 o'clock, we put the thermometer in a favorable place, and 

 it went up to 84. At the same time, on the nor.th side, 

 six feet from us, water was freezing and the snow dry and 

 crusty. 



" From the eastern peak a spur makes out eastward a dis- 

 tance of one mile. Half-a-mile down, however, it divides, 

 and a branch runs to the northeast the same distance. On 

 the southwest, across the out, is the ' Chimney.' From this 

 the line of peaks and hummocks curves to the west till it 

 reaches the middle and highest peak. From one hummock 

 to the other there are in all thirty rods of narrow passes ; 

 some of them are so narrow that a man could drop a stone 

 from either haiid, and it would go to unknown depths below. 

 In some places the only possible way is over the top, and 

 only one foot wide. For a great part of the time the wind 

 blows across these passes so violently that the stones them- 

 selves have to be firmly fixed to keep their places. All these 

 peaks and spurs inclose a deep basin, with walls almost per- 

 pendicular, and in some places apparently two thousand feet 

 high. It contains perhaps two hundred acres, covered with 

 large square blocks of granite that seem to have come from 

 the surrounding walls. There are in it six lakes and ponds, 

 varying in size from two to ten acres. It is easy to see the 

 origin of those fears which the Indians are said to have re- 

 specting the mountain as the residence of Pamolah, or Big 

 Devil. Clouds form in the basin, and are seen whirling out 

 in all directions. Tradition tells of a handsome squaw 

 among the Penobscots, who once did a great business in 

 slaying her thousands among the young chiefs of her nation, 

 but was finally taken by Pamolah to Katahdin, where he 

 now protects himself and his prize from approaching Indians 

 with all his artillery of thunder and hail. Whether this be 

 true or not, the basin is the birthplace of storms, and I my- 

 self have heard the roar of its winds for several miles. The 

 7 



