On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
of ships under sail . In short , every mountain , island , cape , and bay of this beautiful lake forms a perfect picture . Now and then a bald eagle might be seen circling slowly and majestically over our heads , and presently dashing with a sudden stoop into the water , then sailing off to the mountain top with a fish in his talons .
The outlet of this lake falls over a number of cataracts ere it reaches Lake Champlain . Passing down this stream I came to the famous old fortress of Ticonderoga , in- former times the Gibraltar of America ; but now a heap of ruins , overgrown with thistles . The situation is commanding , and affords a fine prospect over the southern part of Lake Champlain ; but a steep mountain overlooks the fortress , so near at hand as to prove it not impregnable . Burgoyne , in the invasion of 1777 , found
means to drag cannon to its summit , an enterprise which till then had been deemed impossible . Ticonderoga fell , and has never since been of any military importance : the sheep now browse among the crumbling walls , and hear no sound save the echo of their own bleating : the stearn-boat dashes through the waters at their base without arousing the thunders of the mighty fortress . America has its ruins ; but while they exhibit only the arts of peace triumphant over war , they may be contemplated without any saddening emotions .
The voyage down Lake Champlain exhibits many fine views . This lake has not the clear waters nor the romantic shores of Lake George ,, yet it admits of wider prospects both of water and land . On both sides high mountains appear at a distance from the shores , and the banks are adorned with villages . The clayey soil of the shores produces a white and turbid water in the southern part of the lake , but on proceeding north it becomes clear . The chain of mountains on both shores continued in sight as we sailed down the lake , and the sun set behind the western
ridge , covering them with a dim , misty , blue mantle , that contrasted finely with the fresh green of the shores . The shades of night came over us while we were still at sea ; but after a few hours' sail , the appearance of a light-house ahead announced our approach to the harbour of Burlington . This town stands on a high bank on the eastern shore of the lake , and commands a grand view of its waters and the western shore , with the lofty mountains beyond .
Journeying easterly from this place , the country is found to he wilder than the western part of Massachusetts , but the farms are under good cultivation The Green Mountains enchant the eye with their variegation of surface , and the bright freshness of their verdure . A narrow pass , called the Gulf , offers a striking- scene : here the mountain is cloven down to the base , almost perpendicularly , for about three miles on either hand . These immense walls of rock are everywhere overgrown with trees , and the
Untitled Article
100 American Sketches .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1835, page 100, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2642/page/20/
-