one vast pile of mountains belonging to the Ta-
conic range, which skirts Massachusetts on its
western border. There are valleys here, but
the valleys themselves are not less than from
1000 to 2000 feet above the Housatonic, which
flows about 5 miles E. of the centre valley, or
business part of the town. On the sides of this
mountain valley are mountains rising, some 500
and some 1000 feet, from which descend some of
the most beautiful cascades in nature. The
mountain on the E., and nearest the Housatonic,
is the mountain of which we are now speaking.
We copy President Hitchcock's description of
the view from this lofty summit.

“ Its central part is a somewhat conical, almost
naked* eminence, except that numerous yellow
ines, two or three feet high, and whortleberry
ushes, have fixed themselves wherever the crev-
ices of the rock afford sufficient soil. Thence
the view from the summit is entirely unobstruct-
ed. And what a view !

¹ In depth, in height, in circuit, how serene
The spectacle, how pure ! — Of nature's works
In earth and air,

A revelation infinite it seems.'

“ You feel yourself to be standing above every
thing around you, and possess the proud con-
sciousness of literally looking down upon all ter-
restrial scenes. Before you, on the E., the val-
ley through which the Housatonic meanders
stretches far northward in Ms., and southward into
Ct., sprinkled over with copse and glebe, with
small sheets of water and beautiful villages. To
the S. E., especially, a large sheet of water ap-
pears, I believe in Canaan, of surpassing beauty.
In the S. W., the gigantic Alender, Riga, and
other mountains, more remote, seem to bear the
blue heavens on their heads, in calm majesty;
while, stretching across the far distant west, the
Catskills hang like the curtains of the sky.
0, what a glorious display of mountains all
around you! O, how does one, on such a spot,
turn round and round, and drink in new glories,
and feel his heart swelling more and more with
emotions of sublimity, until the tired optic nerve
shrinks from its office !

“ This is certainly the grandest prospect in
Massachusetts, though others are more beautiful.
And the first hour that one spends in such a spot
is among the richest treasures that memory lays
up in her storehouse.''

The best way of getting to Mount Everett,
from any part of Ms., is through Egremont,
which lies 25 miles S. by W. from Pittsfield.
From Egremont, you pass along a vast uncul-
tivated slope, to the height of nearly 2000 feet,
until you reach the broad valley where the
inhabitants reside. The distance from Boston
is 183 miles W. From Hudson, N. Y., the dis-
tance E. is about 20 miles. You pass the beau-
tiful lake in Copake, and up through the ro-
mantic gorge on the W. side of the mountain.

In the near neighborhood of Mount Everett,
there is a waterfall upon the side of a deep gulf,
which is well worth visiting, for the lovers of im-
pressive scenery. It has received the name of
Bashapish, or Bash-Pish Fall and Gorge. The
stream descends rapidly towards the W., be-
tween perpendicular walls of rock, nearly 100
feet; striking then against a perpendicular mass
of rock, it is made to turn, almost at right angles,
to the left, and then to rush down a declivity,
sloping at an angle of about 80°, in a trough
between the strata. This part of the fall cannot
be less than 50 or 60 feet. And here the torrent,
having for centuries been dashing against the
edges of the strata, while at the same time its bed
has been sinking, has worn out a dome-shaped
cavity to the depth of 194 feet; that is, measur-
ing from the top of the overhanging cliff to the
foot of the fall.

By creeping along the S. side of the stream,
where the wall is nearly perpendicular, one can
descend quite to the foot of the fall, where he
finds himself enclosed on the E., S., and W. by
a vast wall of rock, which, as it rises, curves out-
ward, so that, when he looks upward, he sees its
surface, at the height of nearly 200 feet, project-
ing beyond the base as much as 25 feet. A man
in such a spot cannot but feel his own impotence.
There is a position upon the verge of this over-
hanging precipice from which a look down into
this yawning chasm may be obtained. Those
who visit these falls should not fail to ascend to
this position, otherwise they will lose half the in-
terest of the scene.

The day is not far distant when Mount Ever-
ett, and the scenery around it, will be visited by
thousands, yearly, with an admiration equal to
that excited by the most celebrated mountain
heights in our country.

MOUNT HOLYOKE, MS.,

Situated in the S. part of the town of Hadley,
on the E. side of Connecticut River, opposite to
the Great Meadows of Northampton, and about 3
miles E. of the centre of that beautiful town.
This mountain is 830 feet above the river, and
presents from its summit one of the most charm-
ing prospects any where to be found in this coun-
try. The lovely valley of the Connecticut, with
all its natural luxuriance, and all its adornments
of cultivation and wealth, lies in view, more or
less distinctly, according to the distance of its
several parts, for an extent of 50 or 60 miles, from
N. to S. The summits of the mountains in Meri-
den, Ct., about 15 miles from Long Island Sound,
may be distinctly seen from the top of Mt. Hol-
yoke. In a clear atmosphere, Hartford is visible
about 45 miles to the S. The beautiful meadows
of Northampton and Hadley, spreading out di-
rectly under the eye of the spectator, with their
vast and variegated carpet of ploughed field,
grass and grain, through the midst of which, in a
gracefully winding course, the silver stream of
the Connecticut is threading its shining way,
having the handsome towns of Northampton,
Hadley, and Amherst set in different points, as
gems upon the bosom of the landscape, consti-
tute an entire vision of loveliness, such as almost
makes the beholder feel that he has been trans-
ported into some Elysian land. The college
buildings, in Amherst; the Mount Holyoke Fe-
male Seminary, in South Hadley; Hopkins Acad-
emy, in Old Hadley; the beautiful range of build-
ings upon Round Hill, Northampton, now occu-
pied as a celebrated water cure establishment;
the Williston Seminary, in East Hampton; a
large number of church spires, and other public
edifices ; and last, though not least, the new city
of Holyoke, growing up on the W. bank of the
river at South Hadley Falls, are points of inter-
est which arrest and fix the eye, as it wanders
over this charming scene.

On the opposite side of the Connecticut, a little
to the S. W., Mt. Tom, the hoary compeer of