KTAADN. 
65 
“ Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy 
With purpose to explore or to disturb 
The secrets of your realm, but . . . 
. . . . . as my way 
Lies through your spacious empire up to light.” 
The tops of mountains are among the unfinished parts 
of the globe, whither it is a slight insult to the gods to 
climb and pry into their secrets, and try their effect on 
our humanity. Only daring and insolent men, per¬ 
chance, go there. Simple races, as savages, do not 
climb mountains, — their tops are sacred and mysterious 
tracts never visited by them. Pomola is always angry 
with those who climb to the summit of Ktaadn. 
According to Jackson, who, in his capacity of geologi¬ 
cal surveyor of the State, has accurately measured it, —- 
the altitude of Ktaadn is 5,300 feet, or a little more 
than one mile above the level of the sea, — and he adds, 
“ It is then evidently the highest point in the State of 
Maine, and is the most abrupt granite mountain in New 
England.” The peculiarities of that spacious table-land 
on which I was standing, as w^ell as the remarkable 
semi-circular precipice or basin on the eastern side, 
were all concealed by the mist. I had brought my 
whole pack to the top, not knowing but I should have 
to make my descent to the river, and possibly to the 
settled portion of the State alone, and by some other 
route, and wishing to have a complete outfit with me. 
But at length, fearing that my companions would be 
anxious to reach the river before night, and knowing 
that the clouds might rest on the mountain for days, I 
was compelled to descend. Occasionally, as I came 
down, the wind would blow me a vista open, through 
which I could see the country eastward, boundless for- 
