52 SATURDAY LECTURES. 



tent of more than 150 milc.-^, the mean height of the valley 

 from which the mountains rise is more than 2,000 feet ; 

 the mountains which reach 6,000 feet are counted by scores, 

 and the loftiest peaks rise above 6,700 feet, while at the 

 north, in the group of the White ^^lountains, the base is 

 scarcely 1,000 feet, the gaps 2,000 feet, and Mount Wash- 

 ington, the only one which rises above 6,000 feet, is still 400 

 feet below the height of the Black Dome of the Black 

 Mountains. 



"Here then is, in all respects, the. culminating region of 

 the vast Appalachian sj'stem." 



We will now consider somewhat more in detail, the con- 

 trasts already in part suggested, between the northern and 

 the southern divisions, and will take as a representative of 

 the one, Mouiit Washington, in New Hampshire, with an 

 altitude of 6,288 feet, and for the other. Roan ^Mountain, 

 North Carolina, reaching 6,391 feet. 



First, we will contrast the modes of approach. From 

 Portland, Maine, a railroad trip of about 100 miles carries 

 us through a rolling country, becoming hilly as we approach 

 the mountains, and exhibits a flora characteristic of the lati- 

 tude, and changing but little till one is half way up the 

 mountain ; a railway takes us to the very summit. 



From Norfolk, Ya., for 100 miles of railroad through the 

 tide-water region to Petersburg, we pass over a sandy plain 

 nowhere 100 feet above the sea level, and at Petersburg only 

 11 feet. Thence another 100 miles brings us to L3aichburg, 

 through a rolling countr}^ rising as high as 800 feet — and 

 from there on we plunge among and climb up mountains 

 and plateaus, the railroad reaching an elevation of 1,500 

 feet within the first 60 miles, and for the next 150 miles 

 nowhere descending lower than that, but attaining in places 

 an altitude of over 2,500 feet, till at Johnson City, Tenn., 

 steam power deserts us. A rough stage ride of 25 miles, 

 crossing the state line into North Carolina, exhibits a strik- 

 ing contrast in the flora. 



Following Buffalo Creek for 10 miles in a southwesterly 

 direction, parallel with Buffalo mountain, we travel through 



