ery. The more primitive rocks of the
Highlands, the Adirondacs, and the White Mountains do not offer such
numerous and picturesque sheets of falling water as the red sandstone of
the Catskills.

Starting from Overlook Mountain, whence the view is said to be
magnificent, and proceeding northward, we first reach the Plattekill
Clove, up whose steep and wooded cleft winds a wild road, chiefly used
for quarrying purposes, and down whose abrupt declivity the Plattekill
leaps from crag to crag in a series of fine falls and cascades. The
quantity of water during the summer months, except after considerable
rain, is small, but the rock formations are very interesting, reminding
the traveller of wild passes in the Tyrol. This is perhaps the grandest
of all the Catskill clefts, but human ingenuity has here afforded no aid
to the sightseer, and strong heads and agile limbs are needed for the
enjoyment of its hidden beauties.

The mountain to the north of the Plattekill Clove has two crests, known
as High Peak and Round Top. It was long thought to be the loftiest
summit of the Catskills, but must now yield to the Windham High Peak or
Black Head, 3,926 feet high, and perhaps to other elevations in the same
range. Professor Guyot gives its height at 3,684 feet, and that of the
Mountain House as 2,245 feet. This mountain has frequently been
ascended, although there is no regular path leading to the summit, but
the thick growth of wood on the top greatly hinders the satisfactoriness
of the view. Between Round Top and the nearest mountain to the north
lies the Kauterskill Clove, known preeminently as _The Clove_, the home
of artists and the theme of poets. Its springs are drained by the
Kauterskill Creek, a branch of the Catskill, and it is one of the
loveliest spots in America. The road through this clove is one of the
main arteries to the back mountain country, and, from the summit of the
clove, near Haines's sawmill, winds for about three miles to the base,
by the side of streams offering fifteen fine falls and cascades in a
distance of five miles, and between steep and wooded mountain slopes or
rocky crags lifted high in air, now swelling out into the sunlight, and
anon curving back into amphitheatres of shadow. The main Kauterskill
flows from the twin lakes already mentioned, and just below the Laurel
House falls over a precipice of 175 feet, which, with another dash of 80
feet, makes the entire depth of the stream's first grand p