wm 
78 On the Tee Mountain of Hampshire County , Va. 
Art. IX.— On The Ice Mountainjof Hampshire County , ' J 
ginia , ioith a|proposed explanation of its low tem/eratumm 
by C. B. Hayden. 
A mountain possessing a temperature so independent of aWB- 
ternal causes, as to ;permanently preserve ice , within a few injSmp 
of its surface, unaffected by tie vicissitudes of , the seasons, oVmmA 
diurnal variations of. temperature, was too singular and strikiwm^ 
phenomenon, not tci have iarly attracted observation. The*e ?' 
Mountain has hencefecei/ed frequent notice, but of so inigfi- 
nite and frequently Exaggerated a character, as to fail tora>.-* 
duce a general beliefUd its existence, or to securest th^in- 
terest which this rare (Miosity so richly merits. TheJceA)^ 
tain is one of the sqboMinate ridges of the Cacasson fvlou|® 
and is a continuation M* the North River Mountain ; theT 
eonsisls c^riidy'tff'^hdstones, and constitutes the western portjSj 
of an anticlinal axis, which at its commencement, many i 
south of the Ice Mountain, is low and symmetrical. As this i 
proceeds north it becomes more developed, and loses its symme-] 
try, the rocks on the western side having a much greater 
tion than the corresponding ones on the eastern. This inclina&pijl 
of the rocks, constituting the western side of the axis, rapidly;' 
increases with l its development, until they become perpendic-fc 
ular, and form, a distinct ridge, which in its continuation forms 
the Ice Mountain. It risei to the height of seven or eight hun-^ 
dred feet, forming a mural precipice, whose cragged summits 
split and rent, shoot suddenly up into sharp turreted spites, or 
jagged pinnacles, resembling the battlements of a Gothic cat¬ 
tle, or the/minarets of % Jinosque. At other times, losing this 
wildness, it is as remarkable for its singular symmetry, as before 
for its fantastic irregularitt-. Still retaining its precipitousnessj 1 
it rises tp the height of sevlral hundred feet ;%s uniform summit, 
and rude massive symmetry, its steep rocky sides, devoid of veg¬ 
etation/ save where* some ^tinted pine has “cakHpchor in the 
rifted ^ock,” all combine to give it'the character of a tftige Cyclo¬ 
pean wall. ' This singular | structure has been thus minutely 
described, both from the unique and imposing scenery to which 
it gives rise, and from the connexion it is supposed to have with 
the/phenomenon of the Ice Mountain. At the Ice Mountain, the 
