NOTCH OF THE WHITE MOUNTAINS, 

 Visited in 1797. 

 Timothy Dwight, President of Yale College. 



' On the morning of Tuesday, October 3, we pursued our 

 journey. For some time before we set out, the wind blew 

 with great strength from the northwest, in this region the or- 

 dinary harbinger of rain. The clouds, rapidly descending, 

 embosomed the mountains almost to their base. The sky 

 suddenly became dark; the clouds were tossed in wild and 

 fantastical forms, and poured down the deep channels between 

 the mountains with a torrent-like violence; and the whole 

 heavens were overspread with a more gloomy and forbidding 

 aspect than I had ever before seen. The scenery in the 

 Notch of the White Mountains, commencing at the distance 

 of five miles from Rosebrook's, was one of the principal objects 

 which had allured us into this region. A gentleman from 

 Lancaster, perfectly acquainted with this part of the country, 

 had joined us at Rosebrook's, and proposed to be our com- 

 panion and guide through this day's journey, and to give us all 

 the necessary information concerning the objects of which we 

 were in quest. If we stayed in Rosebrook's, we should lose 

 his company and information. If we proceeded on our 

 journey, as the weather was, we should lose our prospects; 

 many of the objects being at such a season invisible, and 

 others seen with the greatest disadvantage. Happily for us, 

 our storm vanished as suddenly as it came on; the wind 

 ceased almost in a moment; the clouds began to rise and 

 separate; and we commenced our journey in the best spirits. 



From Rosebrook's our road lay for about two miles along 

 the Ammonoosuc, on an interval. We then began to ascend an 

 easy slope, which is the base of these mountains. After pro- 

 ceeding along the slope two miles farther, we crossed a small 

 brook, one of the head waters of the Ammonoosuc; and within 



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