120 Mineralogy arid Geology of the White Mountai?is. 



Dike at the Notch. 



On the east side of the Notch, in the face of the chfF, quite ele- 

 vated above the road, there is a dike four or five feet wide, that 

 may be seen at a considerable distance, crossing several furrows 

 in the cliff, and strongly contrasted in color with the rock. 



Moutit Washitigton. 



This eminent peak, which is still generally acknowledged to 

 be the highest point of land east of the Rocky Mountains, is one 

 of very great interest to the geologist ; and here, possibly, many 

 points in meteorology, affecting materially the history of that 

 branch of science in our country, are to be decided. 



Brackett and Weeks gave a rather extended, though general, 

 notice of the White mountain range, in the " Historical and 

 Miscellaneous Collections," Concord, April, 1823, and took levels, 

 in 1820, from the Connecticut river, at Lancaster, to E. A. Craw- 

 ford's (now Fabyan's) Mountain house, eighteen miles, and found 

 it 1,000 feet higher than the river ; then to the top of Mount 

 Washington, and found it 5,850 feet above the river. The facts 

 in this account are interesting, and it would form a very convenient 

 guide-book to any who should wish to examine the range. The 

 only particular to which I wish at present to invite attention, is 

 the nature of the rock crowning the summit of Mount Washing- 

 ton. The visitor, on the west side, has to encounter much less 

 difficulty in ascending the mountain than formerly, as he can ride 

 on horseback seven and a half miles ; then commences his jour- 

 ney on foot through the woods, from which he occasionally 

 catches a glimpse of the mountain tops, and when he emerges 

 from the woods, where his vision is unobstructed, the various 

 views are very beautiful ; but the object of his pursuit appears still 

 a mile distant. The peak he sees capped with a rocky covering, 

 destitute of vegetation, broken up into huge masses, which, as he 

 passes from rock to rock, seem as disjecta membra in the wildest 

 confusion ; but when he has once surmounted the peak, and re- 

 covered from the mingled emotions of surprise, pleasure and sub- 

 limity which fills his mind, and given his attention to nearer 

 and minuter objects, his satisfaction, if he be a geologist, will 

 hardly be less than when viewing the more distant and impo- 

 sing scene. 



