and team to the head of Lake Sanford, which is the one spot in the Adirondacks worked by miners. The enterprise did not succeed, by reason chiefly, I believe, of the cost of transport, for there is, no doubt, plenty of iron ore. for a day or two and then tramped to Lake Henderson.

Here we stayed

We crossed this beautiful lake in a scow, and made our way through the forests to the Preston Ponds, of which we have heard this evening, and in the neighbor

hood of which we stayed several days. I would like to repeat this tour with the same companions, or with any pleasant friends who enjoy out-of-door exercise.

GILBERT: Our last view is of the upper Ausable Lake. There is a great contrast between the upper and lower lakes of this name. The latter is grand and almost awful in some of its features. The mountains rise precipitously from the water's edge, sometimes six or eight hundred feet high, with streams and cataracts and many a gnarled and uprooted tree. The upper lake, on the other hand, nestles peacefully in the forest with gentle slopes receding from its banks, and distant mountains lending stately grandeur to the scene.

And now I must stop, for my portfolio is empty. I have not told you of the Saranac River and lakes, nor of the Raquette River with its magnificent lake from which it issues, and its course of a hundred and twenty miles to the St. Lawrence River; nor of a thousand other rivers, lakes, mountains, and valleys, which cover this glorious region. Neither have I time to speak of the natural history of the Adirondacks, its birds, its flora, and its geology. I must plead that my knowledge on these points is extremely limited; but if I should have the good fortune to address the club on a future occasion, I may have more information to impart on these interesting subjects.

The meeting then became informal, and after refreshments, music, and social converse, was in due season brought to a close.

CHAPTER XX.

THE HUDSON RIVER AND THE CATSKILLS.

HE tenth tour was held at the house of the President.

THE PRESIDENT: It falls to my lot to mention a few picturesque places on the Hudson, and to conduct you to the Catskill Mountains.

Almost from our starting point in New York, ascending the stream, we are impressed with the beauty and grandeur of the surroundings. On the left we soon reach the commencement of the peculiar rock formation known as The Palisades, from a fancied resemblance, I suppose, to a palisade fence. These Palisades constitute one of the most interesting features in the river scenery. They extend over twenty miles. There is an irregular columnarlike precipice springing from a sloping bank of shale and debris, the slope and the top of the ridge in some parts being covered with a forest.

The geologic features of this ridge have often puzzled geologists. The rock is granite-Lossing calls it a projecting trap dyke-lying upon a bed of sandstone, so that here we have a reversal of the usual order of things, the sandstone being a much later formation. To what freaks of nature, and to what period of time, this reversal of things is due, is an interesting topic which, with similar phenomena in other parts of the world, early arrests the attention of those who study geology. But the result in this instance is one which has been strikingly useful, for it so happens that these Palisades and the mountains of which they form the river frontage, furnish to New York city the stones which are used in her street pavements. The rocks are blasted, and then the blocks are hewn by chisel and mallet into cubes, or solid squares, and shipped by the contractors to the city. They make the very best of street pavements-the only one that will stand the immense traffic of the city, with its continual "tramp, tramp" of iron hoofs, and the ceaseless roll of countless wheels bearing merchandise and people along its thoroughfares.

I should state that these Palisades are in many places 300 feet high. Here

is a very fine view of one of the boldest portions of them, called "The Pinnacles."

If I were to attempt to give the historic features which make this river so interesting, I should have to expand this tour into several. Opposite the northern limit of the Palisades is Piermont, with its mile-long pier; and three miles south is Tappan, where Major André was executed. A few miles farther on the east side is Irvington, named after Washington Irving, and near by is Sunnyside, where he lived. Of course, every young American soon learns the place in literature filled by this pleasing author. His literary career extended over about the first half of

this century.

MR. GOLDUST: I was amused with the half contemptuous manner in which Thomas Carlyle disposes of Irving in his Reminiscences. He speaks of Irving being in Paris at the time Carlyle visited that city, says he was a kind of a lion at that time, and that he (Carlyle) had "a mild esteem of the good man." I think that is his expression.

THE PRESIDENT: Carlyle had an unfortunate habit of writing down his own hasty and dyspeptic conclusions, as if they were more or less inspired, and he has tarnished his own grand reputation by so doing. He had a keen eye for the weaknesses of men, and in his brusque way, often held them forth to ridicule or condemnation, forgetful of their merits. I am sorry to say that we cannot, as I intended, have a little further conversation about this good man Irving.

The next point we come to in the order of our march is West Point, a place of great natural beauty on the west bank of the river. It is also of great national and historic interest and importance, besides being the site of a great military academy. I hardly like to pass Tarrytown by without a reference. We know that Major André was arrested here, Sept. 23d, 1780. Every American schoolboy knows the history of this man, and the circumstances attending his death.

MR. GOLDUST: And I imagine that the idea of building a monument to his memory on American soil, however well intentioned, will never be tolerated by our people.

THE PRESIDENT: I do not wonder at it. Admitting his courage and accomplishments, he aimed a most deadly blow, in the service of his sovereign, at American liberties, and it seemed almost a special interposition of Providence which frustrated