90 



Topographical Geology. 



expected that the sides of this ravine would exhibit wild and interest- 

 ing scenery. Nor will this expectation be disappointed, if the trav- 

 eler follows the Pontoosuc Turnpike through this defile. Hills and 

 precipicies of every shape will crowd upon his path, now approach- 

 ing so as to form a narrow gorge, and now gently retiring so as to 

 leave room enough for some industrious farmer to erect his habitation, 

 and gain a subsistence in the deeply embosomed glen. In passing 

 through such a region, the man destitute of taste will be heard 

 speaking only of the roughness, sterility, and gloominess of the 

 country ; while the man of taste and sensibility will be absorbed in 

 admiring its beauties and sublimities. 



Ravine and Gorge of Deerfield River. 



Still more remarkable is the gulf through which Deerfield river 

 passes, in a southeast direction, nearly across the whole of the broad 

 mountain range, between the Connecticut and Williamstown valleys. 

 Perhaps the best route for visiting this ravine, is to take the turnpike 

 road from Greenfield to Williamstown. On this route the traveler 

 will not come upon the banks of the Deerfield, until he reaches the 

 west part of Shelburne : but he will obtain a most delightful view of 

 Greenfield, as he ascends the high hills west of that place ; and as to 

 the defile, through which Deerfield river runs between Shelburne and 

 Conway, it is so narrow, and the banks, of several hundred feet in 

 height, are so steep, that it is difficult even on foot to find a passage ; 

 though full of romantic and sublime objects to the man who has the 

 strength and courage to pass through it. From the west part of 

 Shelburne, however, to the foot of the principal ridge of Hoosic 

 mountain in Florida, a good road leads along the banks of the stream ; 

 though in a few places hard pressed between the hill and the river. 

 In one spot it is actually sustained a hundred feet above the river, up- 

 on piles driven into the steep and naked declivity of a mountain slide. 

 But through nearly the whole of Charlemont, the hills recede so far 

 from the river, as to form an alluvial valley of considerable width and 

 fertility. The loftiness of these hills, however, and the frequent 

 openings of lateral ravines, through which the small tributaries of 

 Deerfield river disembogue, keep the attention of the tasteful man 

 awake. As he goes westward, these hills approach nearer and nearer 

 to the river, become bolder in their outlines, and steeper in their de- 

 clivities, till at length, in Zoar and Florida, they shoot up, sometimes, 

 a thousand feet high, in a variety of spiry and fantastic forms, and 



i 



