144 THE ADIRONDACK. 



could make out more than half that number. The 

 Rio-hi has become almost a classic name, while the 

 " Owl's Head," from which I date my letter, has 

 never yet dared to show its face in civilized life. In- 

 deed, the cognomen has been given by a man wander- 

 ing by, from its shape, and it waits a new christening. 

 A forester here has requested me to give it a name, 

 promising it shall keep it. If you will send me one, 

 I will see to the baptism, and you shall have the 

 honor of naming a mountain ; which is far more im- 

 posing than giving a name to a baby. It deserves a 

 good one, for insignificant as it may seem, to plant 

 your feet on an " owl's head," it looks off on a pro- 

 spect that would make your heart stand still in your 

 bosom. Look away toward that distant horizon ! In 

 its broad sweep round the heavens, it takes in nearly 

 four hundred miles, while between slumbers an ocean 

 — but it is an ocean of tree tops. Conceive, if you 

 can, this vast expanse stretching on and spreading 

 away, till the bright green becomes shaded into a deep 

 black, with not a sound to break the solitude, and not 

 a hand's breadth of land in view throughout the 

 whole. It is a vast forest-ocean, with mountain- 

 ridges for billows, rolling smoothly and gently on like 



