The Merrimack River: its source and its tributaries. Embracing a history of manufactures, and of the towns along its course; their geography, topography, and products, with a description of the magnificent natural scenery about its upper waters./ By J. W. Meader.

ITS SOURCE AND ITS T.I'BUTAP,,IES.
"Here, some bright basin is seen to gleam, and anon the eye
catches some islet half veiled in mist, adcl reddening with the first
blush of morning. Sometimes, by a pleasing delusion, the clouds
become stationary, and the island itself appears to move, and to be
slowly receding from the veil of mist. The eye dwells with delight
on the villages of the wide country, and the hundreds of farms and
orchards which adorn thile whole extent of the landscape.
The fertile islands of the lake are scattered, as if to delight the
eye; and when clothed in the deep green of summer, or waving
with luxuriant harvests, they seem like floating gardens, immersed
in the water. The hills and woods, the shores and eddies, the coves
and green recesses, the farms and houses, sometimes retiring
from the waters, sometimes approaching to the mar,in of the lake,
-all form a picture formed for the lover of nature to linger and
dwell upon with varied and ever new delight. The course of the
lake winds at last, and is lost among the distant mountains." *
It is no discredit to any author to observe that the sketch is incomplete. He who has the deepest sense of the grand and the
beautiful in nature's wonderful perfection, must realize most sensibly
the inadequacy and imperfection of mere words to portray the
picture properly.
The true course is to visit, personally, this delightful region. Improved health will compensate the cost, and a lavish and boundless
display of nature's wealth will delight the eye, and deeply interest
aid charm the mind.
Sandwich, the next town, is very mountainous. Sandwich
Mountains, a lofty range, beginning in Holderness, extend into
Waterville, thence south, Chocorua Peak, in Albany, being their
termination, forming two sides of a square.
Bearcamp River has its source ifi these mountains. HIon. John
WAVentworth, familiarly known as "long John Wentworth," was a
native of Sandwich.
On the summit of a hill, only forty or fifty yards in height, and
about the same distance from the stage road, is a very noticeable
natural curiosity, which is'known as the Lion Rock. This rock
attracts the notice of even the most careless observer, while those
who journey to the mountains for what they can see, and are sure
* Barstow.
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