passed a great bowlder, known
throughout the country as 'the big rock.' Beside the highway flows the
Red Kill, a tributary of the Schoharie. There are some trout in it, but
a couple of cotton factories have frightened them nearly all away. A hot
political discussion soon arose among the inside passengers. Our driver
seemed to think loud and angry words quite out of place, and said: 'I am
a Democrat myself, but the other day I had a talk with the Republican
tax collector of our place, and I concluded we both wanted about one
thing--the good of our country. _Honest_ Republicans and _honest_
Democrats are not so far asunder as people usually think.'

Mountain after mountain stretched away to north, south, east, and west,
blue or green, bright or dark, as distance or the shadows of the
beautiful cumulus clouds severally affected them. Up, up we wound, the
merry kill dancing beside us, and the air growing fresher and more
elastic with every foot of ascent. The country is quite well settled,
and we rose through Red Falls and Ashland to Windham, a long,
peculiar-looking town, where we dined, and exchanged our two stages for
a large one seating eighteen persons (inside and out), and drawn by four
fresh steeds. The mountains grew wilder, the air cooler, and finally
Windham High Peak or Black Head, a great round-topped peak, appeared on
the right. A party from Albany had that day gone up. No water can be
found near the top. This is thought to be the loftiest summit of the
range (3,926 feet), but our new driver said there was another peak
toward the southwest, which he fancied higher.

In the cleft between Windham High Peak and the mountain to the north,
runs the road, which suddenly emerges from the defile and overlooks the
open country. We here find no long cleft as in the Kauterskill,
Plattekill, and Stony Cloves, but the highway descends along the face of
the mountain slope. The first view is toward the northeast, and, of a
clear day, must be very fine. The distance was hazy, but the atmospheric
effects on the near mountains only the more beautiful. The road is
generally through cleared lands, so that the view is constantly visible,
and continually opening out toward the south. Acra, Cairo, and Leeds
were all passed through, and Catskill reached about half past six in the
evening. Kiskatom Round Top rose round and dark to the south of Cairo,
whence also the entire western slope of the Catskills was plainly
visible, a soft, fl