154 AT THE NORTH OF BEARCAMP WATER . 
Old Shag is not high enough to rival Cho- 
coma or Passaconaway with its views, but it 
affords the only really satisfactory chance of 
studying those two mountains from a point be¬ 
tween them. Chocorua varies strangely in its 
outlines from different points of view. From 
the south it looks like a huge lion couchant; 
from the Albany intervale it is an irregular 
ridge resembling a breaking wave; from Paugus 
it seems more like a giant fortress, with bat¬ 
tered ramparts lifted high against the sky. A 
slide, invisible from other points, is seen to ex¬ 
tend from the western foot of the peak far down 
into the forests of the Paugus valley. North of 
it a ridge densely grown with old spruce runs 
from the peak northwestward. It is one of the 
few parts of Chocorua not given up to deciduous 
trees. Beyond it rises the Champney Falls 
brook which flows northward into Swift River. 
Passaconaway from the Bearcamp valley is 
one of the most perfect of pyramids; from Pau¬ 
gus it is a rough hump of sinister outline and 
color. The spruces upon it grow so thickly 
that it is hard to force a way through them, yet 
they spring from sides so steep that it seems a 
marvel that any soil or vegetation can cling to 
the rocks. A slide of great length shows its 
scar upon the eastern face, and serves to em¬ 
phasize the fact that this side of Passaconaway 
