24 NEW HAMPSHIRE 



mountains, — a glorious company : Mount Wash- 

 ington and its fellows, with aU their higher parts 

 white; the sombre mass of the Twins on this 

 side of them ; and, nearer still, the long, sharp, 

 purple crest of dear old Lafayette and its south- 

 ern neighbors. So many I can name. The rest 

 are mountains only; a wilderness of heaped- 

 up, forest-covered land ; a prospect to dilate the 

 soul. 



My expectation has been to stay here for t<?o 

 hours or more ; but the wind is merciless, and 

 after going out oyer the broad, bare, boulder- 

 sprinkled summit tiU I can see down into Fran- 

 con ia (which looks pretty low and pretty far o£E, 

 though I distinguish certain of the buildings 

 clearly enough), I begin to feel that I shall enjoy 

 the sight of my eyes better from some sheltered 

 position on the upper part of the road. Even on 

 the ridge, however, I take advantage of every 

 tuft of spruces to stand still for a bit, looking 

 especially at the mountain itself, so big, so bare, 

 and so solid : East Peak, South Peak, and the 

 Peak, as they are called, although neither of 

 them is in the slightest degree peaked, with the 

 great gulf of Jobildunk — in which Baker's 

 River rises — wedged among them. If the word 

 Moosilaulie means a " bald place," as it is said 

 to do, then we have here another proof of the 



