Harry next
mounted the box. Tim touched his hat and jumped up to his side, and off
we rattled at a merry trot, wheeling around the rival tavern which stood
in close propinquity to Tom's; then turning short again to the left
hand, along a broken stony road, with several high and long hills, and
very awkward bridges in the valleys, to the north-westward of the
village.
Five miles brought us into a pretty little village lying at the base of
another ridge of what might almost be denominated mountains, save that
they were cultivated to the very top. As we paused on the brow of this,
another glorious valley spread out to our view, with the broad sluggish
waters of the Wallkill winding away, with hardly any visible motion,
toward the north-east, through a vast tract of meadow-land covered with
high, rank grass, dotted with clumps of willows and alder brakes, and
interspersed with large, deep swamps, thick-set with high grown timber;
while far beyond these, to the west, lay the tall variegated chain of
the Shawangunk mountains.
Rattling briskly down the hill, we passed another thriving village,
built on the mountain side; made two or three sharp ugly turns, still
going at a smashing pace, and coming on the level ground, entered an
extensive cedar swamp, impenetrable above with the dark boughs of the
evergreen colossi, and below with half a dozen varieties of
rhododendron, calmia, and azalia.
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