Ai'i'Ai ..uiiiAN .\hm;ntains. 53 



a liinosloiu' rruioii. the water s<» hard that <l rangers arc ul'teu 

 made .sick by its aso, and the vciijetation ii<>t unlike that of 

 X'iri^inia — forests, wild flowers. ero])s aixi wee<ls, sassafras 

 l»at(lKs, hlacklu'rry briars, and all. 



Tlun we turn abruptly to the southeast, over limestone 

 ridges, across a sli<rht water-shed, half a mile in width and 

 oU feet in hciiiht, and we are in a ([uart/ite. or as they call it 

 there, " freestone" re<,d«»n. the water eouK <lear. and i)ure, 

 an<l in a few moments we }»lunge into a ii,ro\-e of hemlocks, 

 pines, s|)ruces, and sugar-maples, with huckleberries and 

 wintergreen beneath, that reminds us of Xew England, wliile 

 the thickets of rhododendron, leucothoe, calycanthus, oxy- 

 dendron, and magnolia prove to us that wc are still in 

 Dixie. 



Over the Iron Mountain range, climbing wearily up and 

 then rattling furiously down its 1,500 feet of elevation, and 

 we come to the base of Roan Mountain, standing out in the 

 sunshine more than 3,000 feet above us. For seven miles 

 we wind in and out among cliffs and around the heads of 

 ravines, over a road skillfully engineered, but far from reas- 

 suring to weak nerves, and at length we stand on the sum- 

 mit, upon the boundary line between North Carolina and 

 Tennessee, looking olV upon these two States, and, in a<ldi- 

 tion, catching glimpses of Virginia. West \'irginia. South 

 Carolina. Georgia, and Kentucky. 



In strong contrast, likewise, to the spacious Tip-Top liou.se 

 of Mount Washington, securely anchored by huge chains to 

 its granite foundations, is the rough log-house of Cloudland 

 Hotel nestled among the firs, wdiere, two years ago, a party 

 of twenty-five Washingtonians found comfortable quarters 

 for two months, spending the coolest summer of our lives, 

 and to some of us, at least, the most enjoyable. 



Contra.sting the mountains them.selvcs, we begin the ac- 

 cent of Mount Washington, in a Ibrest identical with that 

 of the surrounding country. When we n^aeh 3,()00 feet, all 

 the trees have grown perceptildy smaller, an<l all the decidu- 

 ous trees, except, perhaps, the dwarf birches and mountain 

 ashe-s, have «lisappeared. In anoth<r 1,000 feet the ever- 



