RIVERS. 



vrr 



"tains which lie in the counties of Orange, Dutchess, 

 Westchester, and Rockland. These seem, in an- 

 cient days, to have opposed a dam of granite, six- 

 teen miles wide, to the Hudson's progress ; and for- 

 merly to have raised the waters above the lands of 

 the upper country to such a height, as to have form- 

 ed a lake. And there are traces on both sides of its 

 present channel, showing where the probable outlets 

 of the lake used to be, but which are now dry, and 

 greatly elevated above the present level. 



In the lapse of ages, this mound of mountains ap- 

 pears, either by attrition, undermining, forcible im- 

 pulse, or some other cause, to have given way to the 

 confined waters, and opened for them a free passage 

 to the ocean. And this has been so completely done, 

 that the mountains between Pollepel's Island and 

 Stoney Point have been cleft to their foundations, 

 leaving a free, profound, and sufficient channel be- 

 tween them. On the rugged and ruinous sides o£ 

 this, the traveller explores the internal stratifica- 

 tion of the region to great advantage, while his eye 

 ranges over the picturesque and sublime landscape- 

 scenery, above and below West Point, with uncom- 

 mon delight. He beholds marine plants growing 

 near the river's edge, and salt water, in this inland 

 situation, bathing the feet of the mountains. He be- 

 comes convinced that the deep channel this river has 

 formed for itself, through the rocky obstaclesj is a 

 greater and more admirable work of nature than all 

 ^Jie cataracts afford.* 



'* Br. MitQhelJ* Med. Rep98. Hex. 2d^ vol. 



