PISGAH AND THE BALSAMS 297 
enters the Pigeon a little to the north of here. The 
village lies, as it were, in a nest of the Balsam Moun- 
tains, which rise so close about it that one cannot see 
them to advantage, but from various points in the 
village one can look out towards the Newfound 
Mountains where the fine large mass of the Crab- 
tree Bald immediately attracts the eye. Crabtree 
Mountain ! — and below it and running half around 
it Crabtree Creek — what a picture rises before the 
imagination at those two names ! For the wild crab 
is one of the most precious gems of the forest. In the 
spring it blossoms, the first you know of this being 
the exquisite fragrance that pervades the woods. If, 
then, you go abroad you will find the wild orchards 
loaded with flowers like apple-blossoms, excepting 
that they are old-rose in color, delicately shaded 
with clear pink and white. No tree is more wonder- 
ful in appearance, and none is so wonderful in fra- 
grance. The perfume, powerful yet delicate and 
very refreshing, rises in a vast cloud of incense from 
the fire of the flowers until the whole forest seems 
steeped in it. And if you choose to press a few of 
these ardent blossoms between the leaves of a book, 
or drop them among your papers or your clothes, 
you will have reason to remember the ecstatic 
blooming of the crab tree for a very long time. 
The wild crab is not the only apple found in this 
fortunate land, for the orchards of Waynesville and 
the country roundabout yield apples that would not 
discredit the proud apple states of the North. In- 
deed, when we of Traumfest get a particularly good 
