172 BIRCH BROWSINGS. 



and flourished upon the bark, and some of them still 

 remain. Passing through that region the present 

 season, I saw that the few patches of hemlock that 

 still lingered high up on the sides of the mountains 

 were being felled and peeled, the fresh white bowls of 

 the trees, just stripped of their bark, being visible a 

 long distance. 



Among these mountains there are no sharp peaks, 

 or abrupt declivities, as in a volcanic region, but 

 long, uniform ranges, heavily timbered to their summits, 

 and delighting the eye with vast, undulating horizon 

 lines. Looking south from the heights about the head 

 of the Delaware, one sees, twenty miles away, a con- 

 tinual succession of blue ranges, one behind the other. 

 If a few large trees are missing on the sky line, one 

 can see the break a long distance off. 



Approaching this region from the Hudson River 

 side, you cross a rough, rolling stretch of country, 

 skirting the base of the Catskills, which from a point 

 near Saugerties sweep inland ; after a drive of a few 

 hours you are within the shadow of a high, bold 

 mountain, which forms a sort of but-end to this part 

 •of the range, and which is simply called High Point. 

 To the east and southeast it slopes down rapidly to 

 the plain, and looks defiance toward the Hudson, 

 twenty miles distant ; in the rear of it, and radiating 

 from it west and northwest, are numerous smaller 

 ranges, backing up, as it were, this haughty chief. 



From this point through to Pennsylvania, a distance 



