The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1847-10-21


2 Katahdin in some terrible submerson ia
= back in the geological ages. Atthree O'Clock
} in the afternoon ofthe 24th, they commenced
= the ascent. The first part Of their way was
: extremely difficult over steep, broken rocks
} and through a thick growth of maple, birch
) spruce and fir, They encamped for the
!, night, weary and thirsty, with no water, to
their knowledge, nearer than that of the
Wassataquoill, which they had left foaming
and roaring down its rugged channel two
thousand feet below them.
Seneca, in one Of his epistles, says, that
where there is a lofty deep-ahaded grove full
Of old trees with interlacing boughs, shutting
out the light Of heaven, the silence, the depth
of shade, the grandeur Of the wood, infuse
into the breast the notion of a Divinity.
If such was the effect Of mountain groves up
on the heather sage, we cannot wonder that,
on waking amidst the ancient shadows of
! Katahdin, our Christian travellers gathered
around their clerical companion and listened
to the voice of prayer and thanksgiving. AZ
ter toiling onward about two hours, they came
to clear gushing mountain stream, at which
they slaked their thirst, feeling, as they did,
very much like the behemoth Of Job, that
they could draw up Jordan at draught.'
Here says the narrator, DIR. Young and his
assistant botanists searched for rare plants,
and were successful. lie found here the pv-
rola unidora, Che one-Aowered pirola,) a
beautiful little thing,about three inches high,
concealing its leaves in the moss, but Just
modest enough to run its beautiful little bios
som upon a slender stem, an inch or two long,
to greet with a smile the morning sunlight,
and to bask in his effulgent beams. We saw
here, in the greatest abundance, the mountain
ash, some OF which were quite seven inches
in diameter. The sugar pear, growing in
bushes from three 10 ten feet high, we fire.
quently met with. The berries were very
delicious, and particularly so to us before we
discovered water
! Passing onward through a broad belt of
/ the pinuS njgrd, low, dwarfcd spruce, tang
led and twisted in all conceivable forms,
kicked about and snarled up in tie crazy
bright, cloudless day, they reached the loft
lest summit of Katahdin, famous in the ira
ditions Of the Penobscots as the residence of a
mighty mountain spirit, PomooIa, who car
ried thither a beautiful daughter of their
tribe, beyond the reach of the most adventu-
rous hunters Of her race. The thermometer,
even at that height, (nearly 5000 feet, stood
at 81 degrees We will let the narrator give
his own account of the outlook from his lofty
position over that wild and wonderful lake
country of the East
There was not cloud in the sky nor a
breeze Of wind upon the mountain, and the
whole heaven was filled with warm, gorgeous
sunlight. The eye could not be Withdrawn
from the scene till the soul was filled with
the transporting images Of beauty around.
The tdlest trees were like grass in the dis
lance, and the lakes, Chesuncook, Moosehead,
and a hundred | cannot name, were glowing
| like FURNISHED silver in the noontide cHful-
gence | thought of many SMILES, but can
give you the best idea Of it when / say the
scene reminded me Of that represented by
splendid mirror broken into Il thousand trag-
ments, and wildly scattered over the grass,rc-
fleeing the full blaze ofthe sun. Be it rec
objected that Mount katahdin is the very
| contre of all the head waters of the Penob-
scot, and that almost seven-tenths of the
lakes in the State can be seen from its sum
nit We saw, with the glass and the naked
eye, Mars Ill., and might have seen the At
lantic ocean, had not the southern horizon
been overcast with haze, or fog. To the
West and Northwest, stretching away as far
as the eye could extend, We're the White
Hills, while, in the South, East and North
east, we could see only here and there a
mountain. 1t seemed to lis that the area of
the whole State was in view
Between sixty and seventy lakes, some Of
them of large size, are in full view from the
top of Kathadin, more beautiful in their wild
loneliness than those which feed the Hudson,
amidst the Adirondack wilderness, so finely
described in IIotiman's Vigil of Faith
Lakes which the sun, though pouring down
Hsnoonday splendor round each isle,
/ At eventide so soon orsakes,
| That you may watch his parting smile,
For hours around the SUBMITS glow,
When all is gray and dark below.
Some broadly flashing to the sun,
Like warriors shield when first dispaycd;
Some dark, as when, the battle done,
That shield oft blackens in The glade
Dr. Young improved the afternoon in
gathering specimens Of Alpine plants and
flowers Here says the narrator I'VE found
beautiful MOSES and flowers the flowers
short-ved to be sure-and so is man-who
has the vast globe for his realm. But one
sweet little flower only lived here because it
was nearer heaven, as it seemed, to gaze free
ly at the stars, and catch the first glance at
the suns golden eye. 1t was the Arenaria
Grecnlandica, called Greenland sandwort.
1t is only found on high attitudes, such as on
Mount Washington, &C. and grows about
three inches high, with Il thousand little stems
in tufted masses, and crowned with beautiful
white flowers
The top of the mountain is table land OF
several hundred acres, broken by two or
three elevations Pomoola being the highest.
In the easterly part is vast chasm or val
ley, which is thus described:
From the highest points on each side of
this tremendous valley, JroVned on eternally