UNITED STAT^^S* 



nature, which can be supposed capable of inspiring 

 ideas of the sublime and beautiful, is here realized : 

 aged mountains, stupendous elevations, rollingclouds, 

 impending rocks, verdant woods, crystal streams, the 

 gentle rill, and the roaring torrents, all conspire to 

 amaze, to soothe, and to enrapture. 



On the western part of the mountains is a pass, 

 commonly called the Notch, which, in the narrowest 

 part, measures but twenty-two feet, between two 

 perpendicular rocks. From the height above it, a 

 brook descends, and meanders through a meadow, 

 formerly a beaver pond. It is surrounded by rocks, 

 vv^hlch, on one side, are perpendicular, and on the 

 other rises in an angle of 45 degrees... ..a strikingly 

 picturesque scene ! This defile was known to the 

 Indians, who formerly led their captives through it 

 to Canada ; but it had been forgotten or neglected, 

 till the year im, when two hunters passed through 

 it, and from their report, the proprietors of lands, 

 on the northern parts of Connecticut river, formed 

 the plan of a road through it to the upper Cohos, 

 from which it is distant twenty-five miles. Along 

 the eastern side of the meadow, under the perpendi - 

 cular rock, is a causeway of large logs, sunk into the 

 mud by rocks, blowm with gunpowder, from the 

 mountain. On this foundation j is constructed a road, 

 which passes through the narrow defile, at the south 

 end of the meadow, leaving a passage of the rivulet, 

 v/hich glides along the western side. This rivulet 

 is the head of the river Saco ; and on the north side 

 of the meadow, at a little distance, is another brook, 

 which is the head of Amonoosuck, a large branch of 



