ou which approaches the western edge of the Ramble. Pictures of all these interesting structures are included in our present port-folio. Pretty boats dot the surface of the lake, bearing visitors, for a moderate fee, hither and thither as they list. These little vessels make a winning incident in the scene, especially when filled on summer nights with a ringing chorus of happy hearts and voices. Whole fleets of snowwhite swans, too, are ever gliding in stately progress through the winding waters. The manners and habits of these ghostly gentry are excellent examples of demeanor and conduct, teaching lessons worth the learning by their dignified and graceful movements, their thorough-bred ease and happy content, and their ready courtesy toward all the world. Our Park is indebted for this pleasing item in its catalogue of attractions to the liberality and sympathy of the good people of Hamburg, who generously sent us, from across the seas, some fine specimens of their own unrivaled breed. THE CAVE. The excellent facilities which the frozen waters of the lake afford for the noble exercise of skating have, of late, given such a marvelous impetus to that merry sport as to have made it one of the most attractive social features of winter life in the city. When the ice is in suitable condition, the fact is announced by the elevation of a red ball upon the heights of the Tower Hill, above. The welcome news is immediately repeated by proper signs upon all the cars of the city railways leading to the Park; it is further whispered in the streets, the counting-rooms, and the shops, at firesides and tables, and in boudoirs. Every man tells his neighbor fervently that the "Ball is up!" whereupon, no matter how cold it may be, all the world, young and old, rich and poor, men and maidens, rush pell-mell to the Park, forthwith put on skates, and hold high saturnalia there from earliest morn to latest night. It is not, indeed, until the dark hours that the fun culminates such hours better suiting, perhaps, the convenience of the lads, and the flirting proclivities of the lassies and lads both-skating being, in one of its phases, essentially a love-making medium, involving such timorous reliance of the trembling novice upon the trusty arm of the bold practitioner, such gallant arrests of tripping steps, such tender cautions against dangers seen and unseen, every where and always. At night, too, the dramatic aspect of the jubilee is greatly increased by the sparkle of the moonbeams and the glare of the Drummond lights, which flood the scene with startling brilliance. At the height of the warm season no less than eighty or ninety thousand people visit the Park daily, and the winter sport is often shared by as many as ten thousand at the same moment. Those who do not skate may run about upon the ice, or they may be propelled over the glassy surface by their friends who do, seated in comfortable arm-chairs placed upon runners, or they may watch the shifting scene within the temporary booths where skates and chairs are hired, and where creature-comforts are dispensed. At the southern extremity of the Park, between the old Arsenal and the Sixth Avenue entrance, there is another pond called the South Lake. In area it is about five acres, and in form not unlike the top of an ancient pastoral crook-a very oddly contrived piece of water-Nature's contrivingwhere the incomprehensible twistings of the shore hide you every where from every body else. This lake is also a winter skatingground; but it has, thus far, been given over to that more sturdy exercise known among the bonnie Scots, who especially affect it, as the "Curling Game." At the upper end of the Park, in the great ravine known in Revolutionary days as M'Gowan's Pass, a suitable space has been assigned as the locality of another fine sheet of water, to be called the North Lake. It will, from the varied topography of that section, be of a much wilder and more striking character than the present lakes below. It is to be crossed by the main carriage-road upon a noble bridge of three bold stone arches. The Mall is a beautiful lawn in the southwest, between Sixty-fifth and Seventy-second streets, and upon the right of the Sixth Avenue. It is traversed longitudinally by a grand promenade, thirty-five feet broad and twelve hundred and STONE ARCH-WAY NEAR THE CAVE. twelve feet long, flanked on either side by rustic seats and by a double row of overarching elms. One of the southern approaches to the Mall is under the elegant marble arch-way called the Alcove, and thence by broad steps ascending on either hand. Northward, the spacious walk terminates in a scene of unwonted beauty upon the upper esplanade of that imposing structure known as the Water Terrace. At this happy point seats are arranged for the cozy enjoyment of the orchestral strains which fill the grateful air at appointed days and hours. Overlooking the site of the "Orchestra" there is a great circle or concourse where carriages may congregate in rest, and their occupants thus see and hear without the inconvenience of descending; and from it charming access may be had to the | make a comfortable walk of twenty-one and margin of the Central Lake close by, either be- three-quarter miles; and in all this great stretch neath the richly walled and paved arch-ways of the wanderer will meet with no intrusion whatthe Terrace Bridge, or by the massive stone steps ever of vehicle or horse to disturb the quiet tenwhich sweep down in sculptured pomp on the or of his way. These foot-paths vary in width right and on the left. from three and a half to sixteen feet, the main walk being from twelve to sixteen feet. The design and construction of the Terrace have been intrusted to Mr. Calvert Vaux, the assistant architect, and Mr. J. Wrey Mould. The work is already well advanced, and will be completed with all proper dispatch. Our sketch presents it as it will be seen-when finished and in connection with the Mall, when the trees there shall be more fully grown-from the higher points of the Ramble and the Tower beyond. Its elegance and stateliness, together with the grace and symmetry of the Mall, and the studied charms of the proposed geometrical Flower Garden close by, will give to this portion of the Park a feeling of the beautiful which will be in most grateful contrast to that vagrant and laissez aller humor of the picturesque which prevails through the rest of the grounds. To overcome, in some degree, that interruption to the general travel of the town caused by the long break in the streets which the Park necessarily makes, four thoroughfares will cross the grounds from east to west. These roads, say the Commissioners in one of their Annual Reports, "are to be so constructed by means of tunnels and other contrivances, as not to interrupt the landscape or practically effect any division of the Park. Roads and walks will cross them in such a manner, that, when the trees and shrubbery by their side are somewhat grown, they will not be seen by the casual observer. They will be noticeable from no part of the Park, except at their extremities, where they unite with the exterior streets at a higher grade than the surface of the The Flower Garden, just referred to, will oc- Park, appearing as causeways a few hundred feet cupy the area upon the Fifth Avenue between in length, terminating upon a hill-side. They Seventy-third and Seventy-fifth streets. Its will thus furnish the means of direct transit across fountained walls and floral beauties will make the Park for business purposes, without causing it a holy of holies within the great Temple of inconvenience to visitors. The Park not being Nature, into which our Park is so rapidly grow- directly accessible from these covered ways, it ing. will be unnecessary to close them at night, when We have already spoken of the walks in the the public are shut out from the Park itself. Ramble and by the sides of the carriage-roads. The Transverse Roads, as these public transits There are so many other of these pleasant ways are called, enter from the Fifth Avenue at Sixleading among scenes of delight beyond the gen- ty-fifth, Seventy-ninth, Eighty-fifth, and Ninetyeral view, that the sum of them all told will seventh streets; and upon the Eighth Avenue and One Hundred and Second streets, there is yet another charming meadow of thirty-one acres. These broad fields being unobstructed by trees, excepting upon their margins, will afford space and verge enough for the freest and wildest of country frolics. at Sixty-sixth Street, Manhattan Square, Eighty- In the Upper Park, between Ninety-seventh sixth and Ninety-seventh streets. The Sixtyfifth and the Seventy-ninth Street roads are completed and in use. The "Tunnel," represented in one of our pictures, carries the Seventy-ninth Street road under the high ground above the Ramble and at the foot of the smaller Reservoir. Very much of the southwest quarter of the The picturesque forms and positions of the Lower Park is occupied by large open lawns, little arbors and summer-houses which dot the which are to be used as play-grounds for chil- grounds are most winning passages, and very dren, for cricket, and other sports of bat and grateful to the wearied wanderer. Their numball, and for occasional military parades and re-ber will, of course, increase as the work of emviews. This area has been filled out and re- bellishment and enrichment goes on. Other claimed from the swamps which originally covered the region. The larger and more northerly of these beautiful commons contains fifteen acres lying between Sixty-sixth and Seventy-first-both solid and fluid. The site reserved for the streets. Except upon the south, where it is bounded by the first Transverse Road, it is all encircled by the main carriage-way. The smaller lawn between Sixty-first and Sixty-fifth streets occupies ten acres, which is the general size of the old parks and squares scattered through the city. apropos structures will no doubt also peep up here and there, as shelters from sun and shower, and for purposes of refreshment and regalement chief edifice of the latter order to be known as the "Refectory"-is in the open space upon the southwestern shore of the Central Lakes. The precise character and extent of its gastronomic capacities are things yet to be determined, but we have no doubt that our Park Commissioners will pay due respect to the material wants as well as to the æsthetic tastes of their vis-ries the foot-path over the Bridle Road south of itors. the play-ground; to the ornate arch-way for the Bridle Road under the carriage-drive west of the play-ground; to the graceful bridge for the footpath under the Transverse or Traffic Road southeast of the Mall; the arch-way for the carriagedrive, for the foot-path east of the Ramble; that under the carriage-drive for the Bridle Road near the entrance from the Fifth Avenue and Fiftyninth Street; the charming rustic bridge which The numerous bridges and arch-ways of the Park form one of its pleasantest and most unique features. These structures were required for the crossing of the traffic roads, the passage of the brooks and lakes, and for the carrying of the carriage, bridle, and foot paths over or under each other. The whole number of ornamental bridges designed for the grounds is about thirty, besides the plainer arch-ways used over the Trans-crosses a little rocky brooklet as it enters the verse Roads, and the many smaller works. For the variety and elegance in the design, and for the excellence and durability of the construction of these bridges, the Park is indebted to Mr. Calvert Vaux, the assistant architect. Of the three beautiful fabrics over the Central Lake we have already spoken, as also of the arch-ways of the Tunnel and the Alcove. After seeing these works, one may turn with continued pleasure to the unique iron arch-way which car THE LAKE, FROM THE NORTHWEST. lake on the west side of the Ramble, and the picturesque stone arch-way near the Cave. The Cave is a bold and romantic rock chamber, which opens northward at the base of the western slope of the Ramble, and southward upon a little arm of the lake. It was discovered by chance, but not in its present spacious and accessible form, for it owes all its availability to the judicious assistance of art. Tower Hill, above the Ramble, is one of the highest points in the Park. Its topography naturally suggested the use which has been made of it as a general observatory. It is crowned by a bell-tower, which greatly assists in the direction of the Park labors, and at the same time affords to visitors a fine general survey of the grounds. The present rude tower is to be supplanted in due time by a more elegant and permanent structure. With this glance at the characteristics of the Lower Park we now pass on to the central area, chiefly occupied by the Croton Reservoirs. These colossal works cover a space of one hundred and thirty-six acres, thirty of which |