218 
GEOLOGY OF THE SECOND DISTRICT. 
or venture to act under the impression that they have sufficient nerve to balance themselves 
over such an abyss, where all objects below become indistinct, and nothing remains on which 
to rest the eye, and thus give certainty and precision to the movements of the muscles con¬ 
cerned in maintaining the equilibrium of the body. 
The geological facts revealed in this great exposure of rocks, do not differ materially from 
those which are exhibited on all sides in this region. We are taught, however, something of 
the dynamics of geology, and of the inconceivable powers of those agents once active beneath 
the crust of the earth; for this immense mass has not only been elevated, but broken from 
one once continuous with it, and probably we see only a small part of that which has been 
thus broken and elevated. The whole rock exposed is the hypersthene; and on examining 
the surface as far as possible, only a few mineral substances were found. I have not observed 
trap dykes any where in the face of this wall, but the whole is very uniform in kind and 
texture. 
In conclusion, I remark that I should not have occupied so much space for the purpose of 
describing merely a natural curiosity, were it not for the fact that probably in this country 
there is no object of the kind on a scale so vast and imposing as this. We look upon the 
Falls of Niagara with awe, and a feeling of our insignificance ; but much more are we 
impressed with the great and the sublime, in the view of the simple naked rock of the Adi¬ 
rondack Pass. 
Some of the most important mountains considered separately from the ranges of which they 
form apart. 
Mount Marcy, which is the highest of the eminences in the State, is situated in the south¬ 
west corner of Keene, adjacent to the townships of Newcomb and Moriah. Its height is 
upwards of five thousand four hundred feet. For six or eight hundred feet beneath the 
summit, there are no trees. In the progress of ascending it, it will be observed that the vege¬ 
tation gradually changes; the trees becoming dwarfish towards the summit, till finally all 
disappear. The Canada balsam, or fir, is the last; and in maintaining itself against the 
elements, it dwindles from a stately tree to a small vine-like shrub of six and eight inches in 
length. In this state, it loses almost its representative character ; it ceases to reproduce 
itself from seed, and the noble ascending axis becomes a prostrate feeble trunk, unable to 
support itself in a vertical position. 
This mountain extends about ten miles due north; lying, as has been before observed, 
obliquely to the main axis of the chain. This disposition or arrangement of the different parts 
of a chain is very clearly seen by comparing it with two other mountains in this region; thus 
Mount McMartin and Mount McIntyre lie in parallel lines with it, each of them extending 
from their main peaks due north and south, and each too losing themselves in those prolonga¬ 
tions ; while in the northeast and southwest directions, the range is still continued. 
Though there is nothing worthy of a particular description in these mountains, aside from 
their height, yet their relative position deserves a passing notice. The three mountains 
already mentioned lie due east and west of each other, at equal distances ; Mount Marcy 
