Monadnock was visible, like a sapphire
cloud against the sky. Descending, we by and by got a view of the
Deerfield River, which makes a bend in its course from about north and
south to about east and west, coming out from one defile among the
mountains, and flowing through another. The scenery on the eastern side
of the Green Mountains is incomparably more striking than on the western,
where the long swells and ridges have a flatness of effect; and even
Graylock heaves itself so gradually that it does not much strike the
beholder. But on the eastern part, peaks one or two thousand feet high
rush up on either bank of the river in ranges, thrusting out their
shoulders side by side. They are almost precipitous, clothed in woods,
through which the naked rock pushes itself forth to view. Sometimes the
peak is bald, while the forest wraps the body of the hill, and the
baldness gives it an indescribably stern effect. Sometimes the precipice
rises with abruptness from the immediate side of the river; sometimes
there is a cultivated valley on either side,--cultivated long, and with
all the smoothness and antique rurality of a farm near cities,--this
gentle picture strongly set off by the wild mountain-frame around it.
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