the most remarkable floods ever known in this
mountainous region, and which was attended by
the awful calamity of the destruction of a whole
family, by an avalanche, or slide, from the moun-
tains.

These avalanches, as they are termed in Swit-
zerland, are produced by heavy rains ; they com-
mence, generally, near the highest limits of
vegetation on the mountains, which, on some of
them, is near their summits ; the slides widening
and deepening in their downward course, carrying
along all the trees, shrubbery, loose rocks and
earth, from their granite foundations. At this
time there were probably thousands of acres reft
from the sides of the mountain, and carried to
the valley in the Notch below.

The house inhabited by Captain Samuel Willey
and his family stood on the westerly side of the
road, in the Notch, and a few rods distant from
the high bluff, which rises with fearful rapidity to
the height of 2000 feet. Adjoining was a barn
and wood-house; in front was a beautiful little
meadow, covered with crops; and the Saco passed
along at the foot of the easterly precipice.

Nearly in range of the house, a slide from the
extreme point of the westerly hill came down, in
a deep and horrible mass, to within about five
rods of the dwelling, where its course appears to
have been checked by a large block of granite,
which, falling on a flat surface, backed the roll-
ing mass for a moment, until it separated into
two streams, one of which rushed down by the
north end of the house, crushing the barn, and
spreading itself over the meadow; the other
passing down on the south side, and swallowing
up the unfortunate beings who probably attempt-
ed to fly to a shelter, which, it is said, had been
erected a few rods distant. This shelter, what-
ever it might have been, was completely over-
whelmed ; rocks, weighing ten to fifty tons, being
scattered about the place, and indeed in every
direction, rendering escape utterly impossible.
The* house remained untouched, though large
stones and trunks of trees made fearful approaches-
to its walls; and the moving mass, which sep-
arated behind the building, again united in its
front! The house alone could have been their
refuge from the horrible uproar around — the
only spot untouched by the crumbling and con-
suming power of the storm.

The family consisted of nine persons : Captain
Willey, his wife, five children, and two men, by
the names of Nickerson and Allen.

Travellers visiting this section of country, in
autumn, will be gratified with the rich and varied
beauties of autumnal foliage common in this
country, but more particularly so at the north,
and which is thus described by Dr. Dwight: —

“ The bosom of both ranges of mountains was
overspread, in all the inferior regions, by a mix-
ture of evergreens, with trees, whose leaves are
deciduous. The annual foliage had been already
changed by the frosts. Of the effects of this
change it is, perhaps, impossible for an inhabit-
ant of Great Britain, as I have been assured by
several foreigners, to form an adequate concep-
tion, without visiting an American forest. When
I was a youth, I remarked that Thomson had
entirely omitted, in his Seasons, this fine part of
autumnal imagery. Upon inquiring of an Eng-
lish gentleman the probable cause of the omission,
he informed me that no such scenery existed in
Great Britain. In this country it is often among
the most splendid beauties of nature. All the
leaves of trees, which are not evergreens, are, by
the first severe frost, changed from their verdure
towards the perfection of that color, which they
are capable of ultimately assuming, through yel-
low, orange, and red, to a pretty deep brown.
As the frost affects different trees, and the differ-
ent leaves of the same tree, in very different
degrees, a vast multitude of tinctures are com-
monly found on those of a single tree, and always
on those of a grove or forest. These colors, also,
in all their varieties, are generally full; and, in
many instances, are among the most exquisite
which are to be found in the regions of nature.
Different sorts of trees are susceptible of different
degrees of this beauty. Among them the maple
is preeminently distinguished, by the prodigious
varieties, the finish, beauty, and the intense lustre
of its hues, varying through all the dyes, be-
tween a rich green and the most perfect crim-
son, or, more definitely, the red of the prismatic
image.''