640 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



this direction there is a succession of undulating ridges and hills, which, 

 with their shadows and ever-changing color, give a peculiar charm to the 

 scene ; — then, in the midst of the forests, those sheets of water that we 

 can see are the Connecticut lakes. There is probably not another moun- 

 tain peak in New Hampshire, so high as this, where one feels as though 

 he was so entirely away from the habitations of men. In every direction, 

 except a single spot at the outlet of Connecticut lake, which is fifteen or 

 twenty miles distant by the shortest route, the whole country, embracing 

 thousands of square miles, is one vast wilderness. 



From the summit of Magalloway mountain, three miles east from 

 Connecticut lake, there is a fine view of mountains, hills, and lakes. It 

 is especially fine in autumn, after the forests of deciduous trees have put 

 on their robes of beauty, — crimson, scarlet, and gold. The lakes which 

 form such a marked feature in the scenery are noticed on page 223. 



Cascades. 



Cascades are not very numerous in the northern part of Coos county, 

 but there are two or three that deserve to be mentioned. On one of the 

 western branches of Indian stream, near the north line of the Colebrook 

 Academy grant, there is a cascade which, on account of its rare beauty, 

 deserves especial notice. It is in a deep ravine, and on either side there 

 is a dense forest of evergreens. Here the extreme heat of summer is 

 unknown, for the cool breath from the water always tempers the atmos- 

 phere, and produces a delicious coolness that is so grateful in summer. 

 The cascade has a height of forty feet ; — the first twelve feet the water is 

 broken by jutting rocks ; for the remaining twenty-eight it flows over a 

 ledge, which has a descent of sixty degrees. At the top the stream is four 

 feet wide, but it spreads out so that at the base it is twenty feet. As the 

 water runs across the strata, the effect is very fine. The pure water, the 

 white spray, the dark, moss-covered rocks, the cool, delicious atmosphere, 

 the shimmering light through the trees, the mossy banks of the stream, 

 the perfect stillness save the music of the waters and the songs of birds, 

 form a combination of attractions rarely found. 



East from Connecticut lake, and south-east from the summit of Magal- 

 loway mountain, the Little Diamond falls in a series of rapid, wild cas- 

 cades. The rapids extend for half a mile ; and the fall in that distance 



