of the St. Lawrence, below Quebec; and following at various distances, the general course of that river, it subsides at length into the Gulf near Cape Rozier. This ridge from NewHampshire to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, has been variously denominated, but by the best British authorities it is called the "Main Ridge"-" Height of Land"" North-easterly Ridge or Land's Height;" and it forms the northern boundary of Maine, in the whole extent of the State.

The elevation of this ridge from the level of the sea has been but imperfectly ascertained; but has been so far observed as that it may be estimated with sufficient accuracy for general purposes at present. In the surveys made from 1817 to 1820, in pursuance of the treaty of Ghent, the elevation of some points was tolerably ascertained, and the reports of the surveyors, descriptive of certain features of the country in other points, afford indications from which their relative height may be rationally inferred. Capt. Partridge, surveyor on the part of the United States, ascertained the height of the ridge at the place where it is crossed by the road from Hallowell to Quebec, to be 2002 feet. This was not at the highest point of the ridge, but at a place selected as most easily practicable for a road, avoiding the high mountain peaks, which in some places in the vicinity are supposed to ascend to more than 4000 feet. At the place where the road crosses the branches of Penobscot river, at some distance from their sources, Capt. Partridge found the elevation to be 1683 feet; the sources themselves must be still higher, and are probably somewhere between this and 2000 feet, most probably nearest to the latter.

In prosecuting the surveys along the summit of this ridge, to the source of the west branch of the St. John, a distance of 40 to 50 miles, there appears no indication that it suffers any general depression; but all the representations favor the idea that it maintains much the same elevation.

The sources of the streams that flow from this ridge in opposite directions, take their rise near each other in the same

vallies, separated in general by very small elevations, and in some instances they proceed from the same swamps, so level that it is difficult to decide which way the water should run, but by observing its actual course. The waters of the southwest branch of the Penobscot, which rise near to those of the Kennebeck and Du Loup; and those of the north-west branch of the Penobscot, which issue from the same swamps with those of the Metiamette, and of the south-west branch of the St. John, are described by the surveyors who explored them as being exceedingly rapid and full of falls, in about the same degree, to their junction, a few miles to the west of the northern extremity of Moose-Head Lake. This circumstance seems conclusively to confirm the idea that the general horizontal line of this ridge, that is, the line of the sources of the different rivers, or the general base of the mountain peaks, sustains thus far much the same elevation. From some accounts it would seem that in proceeding thus far to the north the elevation is rather greater than less.

From the sources of the St. John and Penobscot, northerly, the summit of the ridge assumes more the character of an elevated table land. Its surface is described, when viewed from a distance on the southern side, as comparatively low and level; and when viewed nearer, and more on the eastern side, is described as an undulating country, the hills scattered irregularly with rounded summits, but with no eminences remarkably prominent above the rest.* On the northern and western side, next to the St. Lawrence, the ridge exhibits its proper elevation and mountainous character. On this side it descends, rugged and mountainous in its aspect to the verge of the St. Lawrence. The great distance from which it may be seen on this quarter, marks its elevation. From the highlands 24 miles to the northwest of Quebec, "the mountains behind the river

* It would appear from the report of Mr. Hunter, (one of the American surveyors) that the general elevation of the hills in this region is about 400 to 600 feet above the level of the St. John

Quelle* are distinctly visible, and are followed by the eye without interruption, to the highlands between the sources of the St. John, the Penobscot, the Kennebeck, and the Connecticut; and the Etchemin, the Chaudiere, the Besancour and the Nicolet."+

Col. Bouchette, in his Topographical account of Canada, also fully establishes the mountainous character of this range; and it would seem hardly necessary to add more upon the subject, had not the recent pretensions of the British Government given rise to attempts in their support to call in question, if not its existence, yet at least its continuity and comparative elevation.

It is well ascertained, and agreed on all hands, that the sources of the Penobscot and the Kennebeck are at a great elevation. The known rapidity of their currents, and the numerous falls over which they are precipitated, leave no room for doubt on this point. It also appears, from the reports both of the British and American surveyors, that the source of the main branch of the St. John is on the same level with, and within a very short distance of, one of the most elevated sources of the Penobscot. The course of the St. John, for more than 60 miles in a direct line, is nearly parallel to the general course of the main ridge of highlands before described, and at an average distance of about 15, or in some places, 20 miles from it. For more than half this distance in its course, the channel of this river is almost a dead level, passing through swamps and bogs with a current scarcely perceptible. After this, when it begins to recede farther from the main ridge, the current becomes more sensible, is in some places rapid, but still unbroken, and the general declivity of the river gradual. The tributary streams from the west, which have their sources in the main ridge, are, in some places of their descent, rapid

"Behind the river Ouelle" from this point of view must be about the sources of the Madawaska, more than 100 miles distant.

+ See Quebec Gazette, 26th October 1826 The elevation of the point of view here taken is stated to be 2000 feet; and this ridge, to be seen so distinctly from such a distance, must be elevated not less than 2500 feet.

and obstructed by falls, but as they approach the main river are gentle, flowing through swampy lands of very little perceptible elevation. These circumstances show that the bed of the St. John for a great distance from its source, is an elevated canal passing nearly on the back of the "great north-easterly ridge ;" and they easily account for the representation of this ridge as appearing to be a comparatively low, or moderately elevated country, when seen only from this quarter.

Passing onward towards the portage road from the St. Lawrence to the Lake Temiscouata, the ridge assumes a more broken and mountainous form, though it does not appear that its absolute elevation increases. The highest point on the portage road is at the passage of the Grand-Fourche mountain, about 25 miles (in the direction of the road) from the St. Lawrence. The elevation of this appears, from the observations of Capt. Partridge, to be.1336 feet above the level of the The hills or peaks at a distance from the road however in all directions are stated to be much higher. The highest water over which this road passes is a branch of the river Trois-Pistoles, the elevation of which Capt. Partridge found to be 1167 feet from the level of the sea. Its source however, is much higher among the surrounding hills.

sea.

*

From the highlands about the sources of the waters falling into Lake Temiscouata, to the northern boundary, the ridge sustains about the same general elevation. A comparison of the barometrical surveys of Col. Bouchette, on the line of the eastern boundary, and of Capt. Partridge-across the the portage road, and down the St. John, with the observations of Col. Johnson, with the theodolite from Mars-Hill to Green River Mountain, and thence to the northern ridge, makes the general elevation of the ridge to vary from 2100 to 3300 feet above the level of the sea. A conjectural average however, deduced from vertical surveys in other parts of the State, and from other

* From the reasoning in the preceding chapter, note page 34, it appears that the elevation here stated is probably too low..

data which have been stated, would give about 2800 feet as the most probable general elevation of the ridge, and from 1400 to 1800 feet, or perhaps more, as the elevation of the sources of the rivers.

From the foregoing it will be seen that this ridge sustains its elevation (declining however, a little as it proceeds north-easterly) with a degree of uniformity somewhat remarkable, from the sources of the Kennebeck, where its existence and elevation are fully admitted, to the north-eastern boundary of the State. Its apparent character however, when viewed from the side of Maine, differs considerably in its different parts ; the southern being broken, irregular, abounding with lofty summits of clearly mountainous aspect; the central presenting a more uniform surface, of comparatively level land, or rounded swells, with few if any detached peaks of much superior elevation, the north-eastern becoming more irregular, with broken ridges and swells traversing it in various directions, giving rise to and separating the various streams which flow from it to the north, south, and east; but still preserving its distinctive features as the grand line of division between the waters of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence.

The White Mountains in New-Hampshire form a branch of what has been termed the great Alleghany ridge; they rise in the central part of that State, and extend north to the main ridge among the sources of the Connecticut and Androscoggin ; and from their proximity may be considered as in some measure connected with a part of the mountainous region of Maine. Any description of them however, here is unnecessary.

The mountains of Maine which may be considered in this connection lie scattered in irregular groups over the country included within a line which may be traced from the southwestern part of the County of Oxford, passing to the eastward of the Androscoggin Lakes, and thence northward, on the west of Kennebeck river and Moose-Head Lake, until it unites with the main ridge among the western sources of the Penob