New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-07-23
TRAVELS AT HOME
III.


At the foot OF the Catskn mountain she iaurei
,Aewed its dark-red seed vesse s; halfway up, the
hst faded blossoms were dropping of; but as we
approached the top, the dense Tickets were Gov
cred with glory Of blossoms Far and near, in
The caverns OF shade under The pines and oaks and
naples, flashed whole moupds of flowers, white and
hushcolor dotted with the vivid pink Of the cruped
buds The finest Cape azaleas and ericas are
scarcely more beautiful than our laurel. Between
thoss mounds booued the flame colored lily, scarce
" to be distinguished at little distance, from the
breast of an oriole. The forest scenery was
curious ma'gamstion of Norway and the tropics.
"What land, what climate" exclaimed one Of
ny friends, "that can support such inoonsist-
q. epciesr' "After this replied, ait will per-
"hsps be easier for You to comprehend the appar-
"ent inconsistencies, the opposing elements which
"you win find in the American character"
The next morning, we walked to the Katferskn
Fslls Since my last witt Tin 1851 handsome
Aotel-the Laurel House--has been erected here
by Mr.. Schutt The road into the Glove has also
been improved, and the guests at the Mountain
House make frequentexcursiOns into the wild heart
Of the Catsk region, especially to Stony Glove, IA
nilss distant, at the foot of the blue mountain
which faces you as you look down the KattersAM
glen. The Falls are very lovely Il think that is
the proper word)-they will bear seeing many
tmes-but don't believe those who tell you that
sAey surpass Niagara. Some people have habit
of prsnouncipg every last view they see 1.-the
/" fnest thing in the world /"
The dammipg up of the water, so much depre-
satss by the romantic, strikes me as an admirable
ayrnnsemsnt When the dam is full, the stream
syerrups il and you have as much water as if there
uere DO dam. Then, as you stand at the head OF
the lower fall, watching the slender scarf Of silver
fMtterig down the black gulf comes a sudden
darling rush from the summit; the fall leaps
away, from the half way ledge where it fingered,
bsrsting in rockets and shooting stars of spray on
the rocks. and you have the fall effect Of the stream
when swollen by Spring thaws. Really, this tenn
porary increase of volume is the finest feature OF
the fan.
No visitor TO Catskil should neglect visit to the
North and South Mountains. The views from these
points, although almost identical with that from
TIE House, have yet different fairgrounds, and
enbrsce additional tegments of the horizon. The
North Peak, fancy, must have been in Bryants
n mind, when be wro,e his poem of The Hunter.
Those besut nj features which lowered before the
hunters eyes, in the blue gulf of air, he dreamed
sn the roek-are they not those of the same maiden
who, rising from the still stream, euticed Goethe's
"Fisker into its waves 1.-THE poetic embodiment
of that fascination which TURKS in hight and depth
Opposite the North Rock there is weather-beaten
pine, which, spripgng from the mountain-side
Lul~- Tee haaA mat IN fha levpl of he
and not more than twelve feet in front of it. j
mover see it without feeling keen desire to spring
from the rock and lodge in its top. The Hanlon
Brothers, or Blondin, presume, would not have
Tie least objection ~ perform such feat.
In certain conditions of the atmosphere, the air
between you and the lower world seems to become
visible fud-an ocean of pale, crystalline blue, at
ne bottom of which the landscape lies. Peering
down into its depths, you at last experience
aambDess of the senses, delicious wandering Of
the imagination, such as follows the fifth pipe of
eyium. Or in the words of Walt. Whitman, you
I" loaf, and invite your SOUL"
The guests we found at the Mountain House
were rather q quiet company. Several entire
fsmies were quartered there for the seasons but it
was perhaps too early for the evening hops and
sunrise AirtatioDs which / noticed ten years ago.
Parties formed and strolled of quietly into the
woods; elderly gentlemen sank iuto arm-chairs on
The rocks, and watched the steamers on the Hud-
sen; nurses pulled venturous children away from
the precipce, aid young gentlemen from afar sat
ON the yeranda, and wrote in their notebook
You would not have guessed the number of guests,
nyou had not seen them at table. l found this
quiet this noDch slaDce, this " take care ofyour-
self and let other people alone characteristic
very agreeable, and the difference in this respect
since my last VISIT leads me to hope that there has
been a general improvement (Which was highly
necessary in the public manners of the Americans.
We descended the mountain yesterday, in a lnm-
berine Troy coach, in company with pleasant
Quaker family, took the steamer to Hudson, dined
there (ndiferently), and then embarked for Pitts
Geld, which we made stopping place on the way
TO Boston. Ny masculine companion, who ia a
thorough European agricultural, was much struck
with the neglected capacities ofthe country through
which we passed. His admiration OF our sgricu.
tural implements is quite cOunterbalanced by his
depreciation of our false system Of rotation in crops
our shocking waste of msnures and general neglect
of the economies of farming / think he is about
thfes-fOurths right
The heat was intense when we left Hudson, but,
during the thousand feet of ascent between that
place and this, we came into fresher air. A
thunder-shower, an hour previous, had o6hglngly
laid the dust and hung the thickets with sparkling
aro,s The Taybkanio Mountains rose dark and