240 ABSENCE OF LAKES. [CHAP. XXXV11I. 



On leaving Greensburg we crossed one after another of the long 

 parallel ridges of which the Alleghany chain is composed, de 

 scending into each of the long intervening valleys, the hills be 

 coming higher and higher as we advanced eastward. The char 

 acter of the forest changed as we came to higher ground, espe 

 cially by the intermixture of trees of the fir tribe, and by the 

 undergrowth of azaleas, kalmias, and rhododendrons, for I had 

 seen none of these evergreens since I left Indiana, not even under 

 the oak wood round Greensburg. When day dawned we had 

 reached the highest part of our road, and enjoyed a splendid 

 mountain view, the steep wooded slopes being relieved by the 

 contrast of green meadows bordering the rivers in the bottom of 

 each deep valley, while in many parts of the landscape a pictur 

 esque effect was produced by what appeared to be extensive lakes. 

 All who were strangers to the scene required to be assured that 

 they were not really sheets of water ; yet they were simply banks 

 of dense white fog resting on the low grounds, which the heat of 

 the sun would soon dissipate. It is singular that there are no 

 lakes in the Appalachian chain, all the rivers escaping from the 

 longitudinal valleys through gorges or cross fissures, which seem 

 invariably to accompany such long flexures of the strata as char 

 acterize the Alleghanies or the Jura. 



In Campbell s &quot; Gertrude of Wyoming,&quot; indeed, we see 



&quot;Lake after lake interminably gleam,&quot; 



amidst the Appalachian ridges ; but such characteristics of the 

 scenery of this chain are as pure inventions of the poet s imagina 

 tion, as the flamingoes, palrns, and aloes with which he adorns 

 the banks of the Susquehanna. 



Near the highest summit of the chain I saw two seams of ex 

 cellent coal, one of them twelve feet thick, in strata belonging to 

 the same series which I had examined near Greensburg. After 

 descending from the highest level, we followed for a time the 

 windings of the Juniata River, the road often bounded by high 

 rocky cliffs, on the ledges of which we saw the scarlet columbine, 

 blue hepatica, and other wild flowers in blossom. 



We slept at Chambersburg, where, on the roof of the court- 



