HIGHLANDS 257 
It is the hardness of the massive granite in this 
region which has preserved the great upright cHffs 
through the ages, and because of the hard and pre- 
cipitous nature of the rocks, this part of the country- 
is gemmed with waterfalls, of which there are half a 
hundred within a few miles of Highlands, each one 
worth a visit. 
Characteristic of Highlands are the many roads 
that go from it as a centre, or, perhaps one should 
say, go towards it, for here all roads lead to High- 
lands, that is, all upward roads. Our favorite in by- 
gone days was perhaps the "Old Franklin Road," 
where the Nantahala lay so sweetly in the sky before 
us as we went. It was hard to get over the Old 
Franklin Road even then, and now it is probably all 
gone, the new road having taken its place. 
But whether one goes to Franklin by the old road 
or the new, there is to be seen that lovely line of the 
Nantahala towards which one's course is directed. 
In the picturesque Cullasagee Valley — "Sugar 
Fork" the people call it, rudely translating the soft 
Indian name — you leave the main road and go 
through the woods to the fall whose thunder pre- 
pares you for the headlong leap of the stream down 
nearly a hundred feet of vertical cliff. It is one of the 
noblest falls in the region, and when one went there, 
the way to it was made memorable as well by the 
ginseng seen blossoming in the woods. This myste- 
rious little plant, "sang" the people call it, whose 
roots are so potent to cure the Chinaman of all his 
ills, has been nearly exterminated because of the 
