244: DEVASTATIONS QOQAaiQSED BT TORKENTS. 



M. Cteanne cites, in further illustration, the case of the Lake Saint- 

 Laurant, already detailed (ante p. 81), and goes on to say, — " These cases 

 are not extraneous to the matter in hand, but they show how it becomes of 

 importance to fix and consolidate the crumbling hills bordering a torrent ; 

 and they make intelligible how, in certain special cases, by the suppression 

 of debdcles, the extinction of a torrent, of which time would appear to be a 

 jiecessary element, may be in fact the immediate and decided result of some 

 artificial operation." And he refers in illustration to the case of the 

 torrent of Vachferio, which I shaU afterwards cite.* 



* I have not myself seen much of landslips iu Prance ; but I have visited the scene of such 

 in the Notch of the White Mountains in New England, and seen their disastrous effects. 

 These mountains are the loftiest in the United States east of the Eocky Mountains ; several 

 of the summits, Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison, tower 5350 feet, 5261 feet, 6383 

 feet, and 5039 feet, above the level of the Connecticut river ; and Munroe and Quincy rise to 

 the approaching height of 4932 and 4470 feet. I travelled from Burlington, it was in ] 834, 

 long before railways had been introduced into the locality, and I can still reproduce the feeling 

 of solitude which stole over me in the midst of the mountains and forests, with no one near me 

 but the driver of my light conveyance, and a feeling of shrinking, when hungry and weary, 

 from what seemed to be a realization of the poets wish for some vast wilderness and endless 

 continuity of solitude. But having to trust to the accuracy of my recollection, I prefer giving 

 details iu the words of another to giving them in my own : 



" The first view of the White Mountains, as distinguished from the multitude of peaks and 

 summits which meet the eye in every direction, is obtained a short distance from Littleton ; 

 but Mount Washington is not seen till arriving near to Crawford's. The first view of these 

 mountains is magnificent, and as they are approached they become more and more so, until 

 the bare bleak summit of Mount Washington, rising far above the immense piles which sur- 

 round it, strikes the traveller with awe and astonishment. But the emotions which one 

 receives from the grand and majestic scenery which surrounds him here are utterly beyond 

 the power of description. There is no single object upon which the eye rests, and which the 

 mind may grasp, but the vast and multiplied features of the landscape actually bewilder while 

 they delight. 



"These mountains are the loftiest in the United States east of the Eocky Mountains ; and 

 their heights above the Connecticut river have been estimated as follows : — Washington, 5350 

 feet; Jefferson, 5261; Adams, .5383; Madison, 5039; Monroe, 4932; Quincy, 4470. From 

 the summit of Mount Washington, the Atlantic ocean is seen at Portland, 65 miles S.E. ; the 

 Katahdin Mountains to the N.E., near the sources of the Penobscot river ; the Green Moun- 

 tains of Vermont on the west ; Mount Monadock, 120 miles to the S.W. ; and numerous 

 lakes, rivers, &c., within a less circumference. The Notch or Gap is on the west side of the 

 mountains, and is a deep and narrow defile, in one place only 22 feet wide. A road passes 

 t irough, which is crossed by the river Saco ; into which several tributary streams enter from 

 the mountain heights, forming beautiful cascades. Lafayette Mountain is situated in the north- 

 east part of ihe township of Frauconia, nearly equidistant from Mount AVashington at the 

 northeast, and Moose-Hillock at the southwest, being about 20 miles from each ; and it is 

 obviously more elevated than any other summit in sight, except the White Mountains. 



" At the Franoonia Notch, near the road leading from Frauconia to Plymouth, and about 

 three miles south of Mount Lafayette, a foot-path has been cleared out from the road to the 

 top of the mountain. The point where the path commences is six miles from the Frauconia 

 iron works, and the length of it from the road to the summit is three miles ; and throughout 

 this distance it is almost uniformly steep. The ascent for the distance of about two miles is 

 through a thick forest of hemlock, spruce, &c. Higher up, the mountain is encompassed with 

 a zone, about half a mile in width, covered with stinted trees, chiefly hemlock and spruce. 

 Above the upper edge of this zone, which is about half a mile from the top, trees and shrubs 

 disappear. Tlie summit is composed chiefly of bare rocks, partly in large masses, and partly 

 broken into small pieces. 



" The view from the top is exceedingly picturesqun and magnificent. Although it is not so 

 extensive as that from the summit of Mount Waslungton, yet owing to the more advantageous 

 situation of Lafayette, being more central as it respects this mountainous region, it is not 

 inferior to it either in beauty or grandeur. The view to the northeast, east, south, and south- 

 west, is one grand panorama of mountain scenery, presenting more than fifty summits, which 

 when viewed from this elevation do not appear to differ greatly in height. Some of these 

 mountains are covered with verdure to the top, while the summits of others are composed of 

 naked rocks ; and down the sides of many of them may be seen slides or avalanches of earth, 

 rooks, and trees, more or less extensive, which serve to diversify the scene. The only appear- 

 a:ice of cultivation in this whole compass is confined to a few farms seen in a direciion west of 

 South, on the road to Plymouth, extending along the Pemigewasset branch of the Merrimack, 

 To the west is seen the territory watered by the Connecticut and the Ammonoosuok. 



" At a place in the road through the Frauoonlan Notch where the path up the mountain 



