575

MOUNTAINS IN NEW-HAMPSHIRE.

taken and destroyed, or they might have arrived at their cabin and
then been swept away, as not a vestige was left to mark the spot.
It would require a volume to give a detailed account of all the
places of interest around these mountains, and, with the present
railroad facilities among them, our readers will be far better satis-
fied with a personal visit, than to read these apparently fairy tales
relative to them.

Franconia Mountains.—The Franconia range comes next in
order of lofty elevations in New-Hampshire. This range lies about
twenty miles south-west from the base of Mount Washington, and
the nearest point to reach them by cars is at Littleton; the moun-
tains being twelve miles south-east from the depot, where stages are
always in waiting on the arrival of each train through the season
of travel. The highest elevations in this range are Mount Lafay-
ette, 5,290 feet, and Mount Lincoln, 5,101 feet. There are many
attractions around these mountains which call many visitors hither
every season. The Profile House is one of the largest hotels in the
State, and in the height of the season is filled to its utmost capacity.
To show its magnitude, it is only necessary to say that the main
parlor is 50 by 100 feet, and the house can accommodate over five
hundred guests at one time. There are other fine hotels, but this
is the largest.

Among the places worthy of a visit is, first, The Old Man of the
Mountain, one of the greatest natural curiosities in the State. This
wonderful profile of the human face, wearing from age to age the
same undisturbed expressioa of dignity and wisdom, and surveying
in calm majesty the wild and varied region around, is seen on a
bold and nearly perpendicular part of the rock wlqich terminates
one of the projecting cliffs of Mount Jackson, at the height of one
thousand feet. The profile is produced by a peculiar combination,
of the surfaces and angles of five huge granite blocks. And

“ Great as thou art, and paralleleflby none,

Admired by all, still art thou drear and lone !

The moon looks down upon thine exiled height;

The stars, so mildly, spiritually bright,

On wings of morning gladly flit away,

To mix with their more genial, mighty ray.”

The Flume is a deep chasm, having precipices of granite on each
side; it is about three fourths of a mile from the main road, on
the right-hand as you go towards Franconia Notch. A mountain