Natural Tee Houses. 175 
An instance of this kind has however recently come to our 
knowledge, and appears worthy ofa brief notice. It exists 
in the state of Connecticut in the township of Meriden— 
midway between Hartford and New-Haven. ‘This natural 
Ice-House,* is situated in about 42 degrees of north lati- 
tude, nearly twenty miles from the sea and at the elevation 
of probably not more than two hundred feet above its level. 
The country is a part of the secondary trap region of Con- 
necticut,p and is marked by numerous distinct ridges of 
green stone, which present lofty mural precipices, and from 
their number, contiguity and parallelism, they often form 
narrow precipitous defiles, filled more or less, with frag- 
ments of rocks, of various sizes from that of a hand-stone, 
to that of a cottage. These fragments are the detritus or 
debris of these mountains, and every one in the least ac- 
quainted with such countries, knows how much they always 
abound with similar ruins. 
In such a defile, the natural [ce House in question is 
situated. On the south western side, there is trap ridge 
of naked perpendicular rock, which, with the sloping ruins 
at the base, appears to be four hundred feet high; the par- 
allel ridge which forms the other side of the defile is proba- 
bly not over forty feet high, but, it rises abruptly on the eas- 
tern side, and is covered by other wood, which occupies 
the narrow valley also. This valley is moreover, choked, 
in an astonishing degree, with the ruins of the contiguous 
mountain ridge, and exhibits many fragments of rock which 
would fill a large room. As the defile is very narrow, these 
fragments have, in their fall, been arrested here, by the low 
parallel ridge and are piled on one another in vast confusion, 
forming a series of cavities which are situated among and 
under these rocks. Many of them have reposed there for 
ages, as appears from the fact that small trees, (the largest 
that the scanty soil, accumulated by revolving centuries can 
* A convenient point of departure to visit this natural Ice House is from 
the Inn of Dr. Isaac Hough in Meriden. This inn is the usual dining place, 
between New-Haven and Hartford, and the very intelligent and respecta- 
ble man by whom it is kept, will cheerfully direct the enquiring traveller, 
or furuish him with a guide. The distance is not over two miles from Meri- 
den Meeting-House. There is alsonear the same place a wild romantic 
pass through the Gorge of the mountains which is well worth seeing ; it is 
known in the vicinity by the ludicrous name of the Cat Hole. 
tA ee of which is given in the Tour between Hartford and Quebec. 
page 27. 
