Stone.] 460 [March 3, 
then goes south by a more direct route than that of the river, crossing 
it again at S. Lincoln. This same kame runs lengthwise of the val- 
leys of six streams and crosses the valleys of six or seven. At the 
mouth of Aybol Stream IX b leaves the Penobscot, there trending 
south-easterly, and goes about twenty miles eastward, part of the way 
even north-eastward, and then turning south, it crosses the Penob- 
scot near the mouth of the Millinockett Stream, a route somewhat 
longer than one along the Penobscot. From this point the kame has 
greatly the advantage in directness of course over the river. The 
latter makes a long detour eastward to Mattawamkeag, while the 
kame runs nearly south, crosses the Piscataquis, and then the 
Penobscot again near the north line of Argyle. It also runs length- 
wise of the valleys of five streams. The reason these kames run 
lengthwise of the valleys of so many streams is that they follow up a 
stream to its head, cross a low col, and then run down a valley slop- 
ing in the opposite direction. None of these cols, however, are more 
than two hundred, in one or two cases perhaps two hundred and fifty 
feet above the valley lying to the north. Many other instances might 
be given where a kame leaves a valley and afterward rejoins it, nota- 
bly XI and XXIV. 
No instance is known where a kame, after entering a valley bor- 
dered by hills more than two hundred feet high, has left it, however 
crooked may be the valley. Usually when in a broad south-east val- 
ley, they do not leave it, even when the bordering hills are consid- 
erably lower than two hundred feet. 
The practical application of these principles is obvious. Latterly 
my methods of exploration have been largely topographical. The 
first and usually the chief part of the problem, is to determine where 
are the low passes. Often a reconnoissance of a few minutes from 
some sightly place will reveal more than the explorer could gain by 
hours and sometimes by days of marching, especially in the wilder- 
ness. In a level region there is no means of foretelling the course of 
a kame, but in a hilly or mountainous country this unfailing relation- 
ship between the kames and low passes is of inestimable service to 
the explorer. For there are gaps in all long kames where they 
wholly or for the most part disappear, and one would hardly know 
where to look for the continuation, except for some such topographi- 
cal guide. 
At their northern extremities the kames invariably originate in 
places favorable for the collection of a large amount of water, either 
