334 HILLS AND LAKES. 



you can see plainly that if the river could be with- 

 drawn, and the chasm pressed together, the two sides 

 would fit it like the halves of an apple that had been 

 cleft by the blade of a knife. Above Keeseville are 

 evidences that a lake once covered what is now a 

 beautiful valley, stretching away for miles to the 

 southwest, and through which the Au Sable now 

 flows. Where now are rich farms, was once the bot- 

 tom of this lake, .and fishes sported above the fields 

 that are now rich meadc^fs, or covered with grain. 

 Some mighty power, centuries upon centuries ago, 

 struggling in the remote depths of the earth, up- 

 heaved these hills, tili the surface parted, leaving this 

 gorge, through which the pent-up waters rushed, 

 emptying the lake of its contents, and giving its foun- 

 dations to the world as a place for man to beautify, 

 over which the ploughshare should pass, and his 

 flocks and herds feed. 



In company with a friend, I went some three milea 

 west of the village, to what is called Halleck Hill, to 

 see one of those quiet landscapes, upon which the eye 

 loves to rest. It was not a rugged mountain scene,, 

 where giant ranges stretch away, and tall peaks lifi 

 their bald 'head to the clouds. There was no desola- 



