t runs through green meadows and cultivated fields,
while round it rise lofty mountains--the 'Giant of the Valley' (alias
'Great Dome' or 'Bald Peak'), being especially remarkable, with its
summits, green or bare, round or peaked, glittering with white scars of
ancient slides. To the west lies the Keene Pass, a steep, rocky gateway
to the Au Sable River and the wonders beyond. This view of the descent
into the Pleasant Valley is even more striking from a road passing over
the hills some five miles south of Elizabethtown. The vale is narrower,
the point of view higher, and the opposite mountains nearer and more
lofty. The Giant of the Valley rises directly in the west, and Dix's
Peak closes the vista to the south. On a semi-hazy afternoon, with the
sunlight streaming through in broad pathways of quivering glory, it
would be difficult to imagine a more enchanting scene.

There are in Elizabethtown two inns,[3] one down by the stream, a branch
of the Boquet, and the other up on the 'Plain,' near the court house.
The latter has decidedly the advantage in situation. Both are owned by
the same landlord, and are well kept. We arrived in the midst of court
week, and found every place filled with lawyers, clients, witnesses, and
even, behind the bars of the brick jail, we could see the prisoners,
more fortunate than their city compeers, in that they breathed pure air,
and could look out upon the everlasting hills, solemn preachers of the
might and the rights, as well as the mercy of their Creator.

[Footnote 3: During the past season, the Mansion House, on the Plain,
was not opened until near the close Of the summer. We understand it is
to be henceforth a permanent 'institution.']

From two to three miles from the Valley House is the top of Raven Hill,
seemingly a watchtower on the outskirts of the citadel of the
Adirondacs. The ascent is easy, and the view panoramic, embracing Lake
Champlain and the Green Mountains, Burlington and Westport, the bare,
craggy hills to the north, the higher ranges to the west, with the
abrupt precipices of the 'Keene Pass' and the lofty 'Dome' and 'Bald
Mountain,' Dix's Peak to the south, a clear lake known as 'Black Pond'
among the hills toward Moriah, and at the base the Pleasant Valley with
the winding Boquet River.

Near the lower hotel is Wood Mountain, about half as high as Raven Hill,
and offering a view somewhat similar, although of course not so
extended. The distance to the top is but