‘14 ~—— Description of a Slide on Mount Lafayette, N. H. 
went safely forward, however, till we reached that part of the 
ravine nearest the footpath, through which we had ascended. 
But we found ourselves several hundred feet below it, and the 
spruces so thick and matted together, that to make our way 
through them seemed a formidable undertaking, and so we con- — 
cluded to follow down the stream till we should come to the 
mouth of a brook, which we knew passed the tavern and emptied 
into this ravine. Onward we went, stepping from stone to stone 
in the bottom of the creek, until we began to suspect something 
wrong; and my pocket-compass showed me that the ravine was 
turning gradually to the right, so as to carry us towards the 
mountain-range, and away from the hotel. The stream was 
from one to two rods wide, and the banks covered with trees 
from eighty to one hundred feet high, so that we could see only 
a short distance on either hand. We passed the mouth of the 
brook, which we meant should be our guide, without observing it. 
It was impossible over such a road to judge of the distance we 
had travelled, but it seemed very long; yet we did not dare to 
leave the stream, lest we should lose our way in the vast forest. 
A commencing rain towards night made the prospect the more 
gloomy, as we had no means of making a fire. 
On we still went, and the stream finally was so much enlarged, 
that we could no longer step from stone to stone, along its bed, 
so that we were obliged to get on as we could through the brush- 
wood, and among the rocks on the shore. At length, turning 
my eye towards the top of a steep hill, that formed the pank, I 
nounced a cleared field and a farm-house in sight. Cheered by 
the discovery we pushed forward, and ere long were resting in 4 
farmer’s kitchen, before a good fire. We ascertained, on inquiry; 
that we had followed the stream six miles from its source, a 
had advanced three miles beyond the hotel. The farmer’s wagon 
conveyed us thither, in the early part of the evening, and though 
excessively fatigued, sleep restored us, so that on the morrow Wé 
be eal Did it score and: striate that floor as was en 
y the drift agency, as some suy would be done b 
crowding forward of detritus: eae é 
i ret oa ran hee - iF 
by the power of water? | L found it. ‘e 
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