194 RIVER LIFE. 



roar of its winds for several miles. But on the 15th of October, 

 when I entered it and went to the upper lake, all was still as 

 the house of nymphs, except when we ourselves spoke, and then 

 the thousand echoes were like the response of fairies bidding us 

 welcome. In this way the music of our voices would find itself 

 in the midst of a numerous choir singing a ' round.'' 



" The upper lake, which I visited and went around, has an 

 inlet, a white pearly brook, coming out nearly under the chim- 

 ney, and running a short distance through alders and meadow 

 grass. It has no visible outlet ; but on the north side it seems 

 to ooze out among the rocks. We can trace this water-course 

 curving to the east of north till it reaches the lower and largest 

 lake, from which flows a brook sufficiently large for trout to run 

 up. This brook curves to the south, running into West Branch, 

 and is called Roaring Brook. The mountain around this basin 

 is in the form of a horse-shoe, opening to the northeast. From 

 the peak on the northern wing there is another deep gorge, partly 

 encircled with a curving ridge, which some would call another 

 basin. On the north side of this gorge there is a peak nearly 

 equal in height to the one on the south of it, but considerably 

 further east, making this northern basin or gorge open to the 

 southeast. These two basins, from some points of view, seem to 

 be one. From the last-mentioned peak the mountain slopes off 

 from one peak or shoulder to another, perhaps three miles, before 

 it reaches the timber growth. Some of the branches of the 

 Wassataquoik come from this northern part, but some of them 

 from the basin or southern part of Ktaadn. 



" Rough granite, moss-covered rocks are spread over its M'hole 

 surface from the short growth upward. Blueberries and cran- 

 berries grow far up the sides. At the time of our visit consider- 

 able snow lay on its summits and lined the walls of the great 

 basin. The party, of course, found plenty of drink. The Ava- 

 lanche Brook, having its source about the middle of the slide, 



