JYorth Carolina and Tennessee. 3 



Georgia. A remarkable chain of mountains lies along the course of 

 the heads of Frenchbroad. Some of the highest peaks in this chain 

 have been described in the American Journal of Science. At the 

 other extremity of the bounds I have allotted myself, the parallel 

 position of mountain ranges is in some measure lost. The Blue 

 ridge and the Wuaka approach each other and form jointly the sep- 

 aration of the eastern from the western v^^aters. As this new formed 

 range continues west, another range not less formidable approaches 

 from the north, Waldeus ridge and Cumberland mountain ; these 

 unite themselves with the former, and this union takes the name of 

 the Lookout mountain. At this point of intersection, where the un- 

 ion of immense mountains on either side once formed a barrier to 

 the streams which flowed from fifty thousand square miles of coun- 

 try ; the evidence at this place of the war of elements is the admira- 

 tion of all who pass the broken mountain, through the suck and boil- 

 ing chaldron, near the confines of the state of Tennessee. The pow- 

 er that gave such magic to the scene at Harper's ferry, had operated 

 here also ; and while the trident made in the one. place, a passage 

 for the slippery element to the east ; another stroke at one thousand 

 miles distance, cleared a passage for the same element to the west, 

 equally romantic and not less sublime. 



Leaving for the present further delineations in outline, let us turn 

 to the section in Georgia, east of the Blue ridge. The discovery of 

 gold in Habersham county has been so recent, not more than two years 

 since, that but little has been done to develop the metals concealed 

 there. A gentleman of the name of Wilhero, made researches by 

 comparing the face of the country and appearance of the branches and 

 streams with the gold section in North Carolina, and found deposits of 

 gold through Habersham and Hall counties, and then discovery follow- 

 ed discovery. In the Cherokee nation which was separated by the 

 Chestetee river, the indications of gold were not strong, but research 

 caused it to be proclaimed richer than any part of the region hitherto 

 explored. The nation was intruded on as a common, and for a time, 

 not less than five thousand adventurers dug up the face of the coun- 

 try ; rich, as it certainly was, it is questionable whether the counties 

 spoken of were not equally so ; the lands in the latter being private 

 property, were not overrun as was the nation ; and all the hands em- 

 ployed in collecting gold on the lands granted, amounted, it is be- 

 lieved, tp not more than one thousand ; the owners of the land were 

 many of them poor and destitute of enterprise. With the exception 



