78 Notices of Mount Washington and the vicinity. 



Our younger friends had been persuaded to make packs of 

 their great coats, being assured that, aUhough the world was smil- 

 ing below, they would ere long arrive in a region, where they 

 would be glad to wrap their limbs in these seeming incumbrances ; 

 and so it proved ; for, at the distance of a mile from the top of 

 the mountain, we were involved in winter. The dark volumes 

 of vapor which, from the hotel whence we departed, appeared 

 in detached masses, only as a light drapery, gracefully rolling up 

 the breast and over the hoary peak of Mount Washington, were 

 now congealed, and involved us in a white driving cloud that 

 froze on our apparel, and tufted the rocks with splendid crys- 

 tallizations of ice. Here our guide, having issued the welcome 

 command to dine, opened at once the treasures of his pack, that 

 we might obtain vigor for the remainder of our toil, the severest 

 part of which was still before us. 



Our refreshments were indeed most acceptable and salutary ; 

 but our hands were so benumbed with the cold, that we could 

 scarcely convey the food to our mouths. 



From our hasty repast, we started again, as if pursuing or pur- 

 sued, and struggled onward over immense piles of ruins frosted 

 with the congealed vapor, and thus rendered treacherous to the 

 feet, which were constantly in danger of sliding into the innu- 

 merable chasms and holes that yawned around our path. Our 

 toil grew more and more severe, — not a vestige of human foot- 

 steps remained, and we were guided only by piles of stones erected 

 as landmarks for the adventurer. The last stunted evergreens 

 ceased to appear, the wind blew a frozen gale, involving us in 

 white palpable clouds, which were rather masses of flying ice 

 than ordinary snow ; they invested every object, and hung in 

 magnificent tufts of long, slender, and perfectly white crystals, 

 from every rock and over every chasm. 



Still, an occasional outburst of the sun threw a glorious flood 

 of golden light over the enormous peaks that were grouped 



as an encouragement to those who have less vigor, that I have known a gentleman 

 of a very feeble frame and still feebler health, and with lungs that had suffered 

 alarming attacks of disease, ascend Mount Ascutney, about three thousand feet 

 high, with safety and without excessive fatigue ; but it was done very slowly and 

 with frequent pauses and resting to recover. I was of the party, in 1828, and was 

 astonished to see how little he suffered. If these remarks are of any value to the 

 young adventurer, who may thus be saved from injury, their introduction on this 

 occasion will be excused. I am quite sure, from considerable observation among 

 mountains and mines, that such suggestions are too little regarded. 



