tJNITED STATES 



Chesilut ridge, proceeds northward, to terminate at 

 the head of the Susquehannah. Southward the set- 

 tlers in Kentucky and Tenessee have extended the 

 name of Great Laurel to the principal branch, that 

 Separates Kentucky from Virginia ; and have given 

 the name of Cumberland to its continuation, which 

 accompanies and bounds Cumberland river as far as 

 its mouth. I have not sufficient documents with res- 

 pect to this part.* 



From the earliest settlement of the country, the 

 white mountains have attracted the attention of all 

 sorts of persons. They are undoubtedly the highest 

 land in New England, and in clear weather, are 

 discovered before any other land, by vessels coming 

 in to the eastern coast ; but by reason of their white 

 appearance, are frequently mistaken for clouds. 

 They are visible on the land at the distance of eighty 

 miles on the south and south-east sides ; they appear 

 higher when viewed from the north-east, and it is 

 said they are seen from the neighbourhood of Cham* 

 ble and Quebec. The Indians gave them the nam* 

 of Agiocockook: They had a very ancient tradition 

 that their country was once drowned, with all itsin- 

 habitants, except one Powaw and his wife, who, 

 foreseeing the flood, fled to these mountains, where 

 they were preserved, and that from them the coun- 

 try was re-peopled, f They had a superstitious 

 veneration for the summit, as the habitation of in- 

 visible beings ; they never ventured to ascend it, and 



* Volney's View of the United States. 



t Josselyn^s Voyage t© New England, p, 13/; 



