166 



NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



The prospect from this summit is beautiful. To the west the eye is dazzled with the splendor 

 of Mount Washington. N. W. are the settlements in Jellerson ; W. the course of the 

 Amonoosuc, as though drawn on a map ; south, Mooshelock, the Haystack, and Chocorua 

 Peak are discovered. Easterly are towns, mountains, and dark forests. From the foot of this 

 mountain, the ascent is gradual to the top of Mount Franklin. Alter crossing this and Mount 

 Monroe, the traveler finds himself on a plain at the foot of Mount Washington. 



The pinnacle of this eminence rises like an immense pyramid, or some vast Kremlin in this 

 magnificent city of mountains ; it is composed of huge rocks of granite and gneiss, piled to- 

 gether in various forms and hues. The first part of the way is through a thick forest of heavy 

 timber. This is limited above by a growth of stunted and gnarled fir trees, 10 or 15 feet in 

 heiglit, which form a belt round the mountain 80 rods wide. These suddenly give place to a 

 growth of short bushes, and then succeeds a bed of thin moss, not sufficient to cover the gran- 

 ite rock and the immense masses of loose stones which iorm the surface. For more than a 

 mile the ground is entirely destitute of trees, and a lev.- straggling spiders, or little flowering 

 plants are all that the mountain produces. The view from the summit is wonderfully grand and 

 picturesque. Innumerable mountains, lakes, ponds, rivers, towns, and villages, meet the eye 

 on every side. 



The finest view is toward the south. Looking down the valley through which the road leads 



from the summit, a grand sierra 

 of mountain peaks extends far off 

 beyond the bright surface of Win- 

 nipiseogee lake. Southwesterly is 

 discovered the Gi'and Monadnock. 

 The ocean may be seen in the S. 

 E., but not without a telescope. 

 In the N. E. is the valley of the 

 Androscoggin, abounding in wild 

 and romantic scenery. North is 

 Lake Umbagog, and a country 

 still more wild and uncultivated. 

 West the immediate view is over 

 a mountainous region, covered 

 with a thick forest, with the oc- 

 casional opening of a farm among 

 the trees. Beyond, the hills are 

 seen to rise from the opposite 

 shore of the Connecticut, the surface of which is everywhere hidden from view, and the sum- 

 mits rising higher and higher, terminate in the ridges of the Green Mountains of Vermont. 

 Loose fragments of granite are everywhere scattered over the mountain, with some portions of 

 gneiss. The granite is generally gray, and at first, fine grained, but grows coarser as we as- 

 cend, and is occasionally sprinkled with small garnets. At the summit it frequently contains a 

 little black tourmaline, sometimes in crossing crystals. On the summit also, some of the gran- 

 ite is tinged with red, alihough much of it is colored bright green by lichens, dampened by the 

 humidity of the clouds, and interspersed with thick and soft gray moss. The grain of the 

 coarse granite is elongated, and what strikes the visiter as very singular is, that not a single rock 

 IS to be found in its original place ; everything bears the mark of change, and this, added to 

 the appearance of the precipice on the northern side, seems to indicate that the original summit 

 of the mountain has fallen down and disappeared. 



The only places susceptible of cultivation in the heart of the mountains, are the little mea- 

 dows inhabited by the Crawfords, and the Notch and Willy Meadows ; even here the interval 

 of warm weather is so short, that few vegetables can arrive at maturity. The weather is liable 

 to frequent changes which is partly owing to the Notch, through which the wind blows almost 

 unceasingly, even when the air is perfectly still at a short distance from it. The wind is always 

 N. or S. During the winter it is often so violent, as to keep not only the snow, but every- 

 thing loose from lying on the road. 



To the sportsman and hunter, the forests and rivers aflbrd every advantage during the brief 

 summer which visits the valley. Various kinds of wild fowl are to be found in the woods, be- 

 sides bears, wildcsts, and deer. The moose and bison were formerlv numerous, and it is little 



J^'ear vicio of the U late Mountains, A'ew Hampshire. 



