58 HEAET OF THE SOUTHEKN CATSKILLS 



view immediately to the east. Eimning from 

 the top of Panther toward Slide one sees a 

 gigantic wall of rock, crowned with a dark line 

 of fir. The forest abruptly ends, and in its 

 stead rises the face of this colossal rocky escarp- 

 ment, like some barrier built by the mountain 

 gods. Eagles might nest here. It breaks the 

 monotony of the world of woods very impres- 

 sively. 



I delight in sitting on a rock in one of these 

 upper fields, and seeing the sun go down be- 

 hind Panther. The rapid flowing brook below 

 me fills all the valley with a soft murmur. 

 There is no breeze, but the great atmospheric 

 tide flows slowly in toward the cooling forest; 

 one can see it by the motes in the air illumi- 

 nated by the setting sun: presently, as the air 

 cools a little, the tide turns and flows slowly 

 out. The long, winding valley up to the foot 

 of Slide, five miles of primitive woods, how 

 wild and cool it looks, its one voice the mur- 

 mur of the creek. On the Whittenburg the 

 sunshine lingers long; now it stands up like an 

 island in a sea of shadows, then slowly sinks 

 beneath the wave. The evening call of a robin 

 or the thrush at his vespers makes a marked 

 impression on the silence and the solitude. 



The following day my friend and I pitched 

 our tent in the woods beside the stream where 

 I had pitched it twice before and passed several 

 delightful days, with trout in abundance and 

 wild strawberries at intervals. Mrs. Larkins's 

 cream-pot, butter-jar, and bread- box were within 



