I cannot leave this interesting spot without an attempt to describe
the beautiful scene. A little to the right, the river widens into a
sort of bay, with several fine islands covered with wood; in front,
across the stream, as far as the eye can reach, are the forests of New
Hampshire, with occasional headlands of greensward. In the autumn, it
has exactly the appearance of a gigantic flower-garden--the trees
being of every imaginable colour. 'Ah!' said my friend, 'this is an
interesting spot: it was the favourite residence and hunting-ground of
the Chippewas. The Indians, like your monks of old in Europe, always
chose the most beautiful and picturesque sites for their dwellings;
but they have retired before the advance of a civilisation they could
not share or appreciate.' Talking in this way, as we returned, he
called my attention to a singular phenomenon in the river. At some
remote period there was, and it remains to the present moment, a rock
standing in the middle of the stream, about twelve feet in diameter at
the top, of an irregular form, and of the hardest granite. By the
action of the water, a mass of granite had been thrown on the top,
where it lodged. At high-water, perhaps during three months in each
year, the stream had caused this mass to revolve on its own axis,
until it has worn itself of a round figure, and worn also the rock
into a cup, now about six feet deep.
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