Ground extends from a Quarter to Half a Mile wide, but somewhat narrower on the upper parts of that River. This Stream at the Cahoes is reckoned to be about a Quarter of a Mile in Breadth & the Falls extend quite across, the Heighth of the Fall is conjectured by Mr. Wells & the Two Surveyors to be 60 Feet or upwards but I have seen a Copper plate that calls it 75, tho' upon ocular view it appears less, the Fall is almost perpendicular, the whole Body of the River brawling over a Slate Rock, the Banks of the River consist of this Rock intermixed with a crumbling stone and are perhaps 30 feet higher than the Bed of the River, the whole looks as white as cream except in the middle where the black Rock projects a little and the water breaks into many small Rills, We descended down to the Shore by a dangerous passage and ascended by the same after examining every Thing below particularly some heavy Stones and other Indications of a Cop- per Mine being not far off, upon quitting this Spot we directed our Course for Schenectady & passed some excellent Farms and likewise some poor barren Pine Land yet we saw choice Ground bearing the Jersey or Pitch Pine a Thing to me heretofore un- known, the Course from the Cahoes to Schenectady was nearly West, about six Miles below that Town we are told that the rich Bottoms sell at £3$ or ;£4o p Acre while the Upland will only fetch £3 or thereabouts, they hardly ever plow their Up- land the Indian Corn in the Rich Lands is said to produce from 40 to 60 Bushels an Acre altho every Year planted in the same Earth. By the Information reed. Stephen Van Renslaers Manor extends on each Side of the North River 12 Miles below Albany and 12 above by 48 Miles across East & West. Along the Road the Trees are out in full Leaf and the Grass in the Vales several Inches high, Clover and Timothy common to the Country, they use wheeled Plows mostly with 3 Horses abreast & plow and harrow sometimes on a full Trot, a Boy sitting on Digitized by Microsoft® 356 The Hudson River one Horse, the Timber in these Parts besides the Two sorts of Pine consists of Blac & White Oak, White and brown Aspen large and small Bilberry, Maple red Oak Hazel Bushes, Ash and Gum together with Butternut and Shellbark Hiccory in plenty, Elm and others, the Woods abound in Strawberries, and we find the Apple Trees, Bilberries, Cherries and some others in Blossom as are the wild Plums which are very common here. We were informed by Dr. Stringer at Albany that the Owners of Hardenberghs or the great Patent sell their Lands in Fee at 7/6 per Acre. Digitized by Microsoft® Chapter XXII Among the Hills A POET was abroad when the Highland hills were named. Dunderberg, first, — what a sonorous mouthful it is! — is equal to all the creatures of history and the creations of romance that can ever be added to it. Cro' Nest has a unique suggestion of untamed crags and the sweep of wings through cling- ing masses of cloud. Storm King is not quite so good ; it is artificial, and one needs hardly to be told that Willis invented the name to take the place of Boter- berg, or Butter Hill, so called by the Dutch because it was thought to resemble a huge pat of butter. Then there is Beacon Hill, reminiscent of the fires that blazed to tell the country for miles around that the war was over; and Bull Hill, that has been latinised into Mount Taurus. There used to be a wild bull that terrorised the country back of that hill for many a day, till at last a strong hunting party undertook to hunt him down and slay him. Forced to flee before his pursuers, he made one final, mad rush for the very crest of the hill and plunged out into space, to leave his magnificent body a broken and shapeless mass on 357 Digitized by Microsoft® 358 The Hudson River the rocks below and his name as a legacy to the moun- tain he used to haunt. Sugar-Loaf was so called for the obvious reason that it is, in form, simply an old- fashioned loaf of sugar, of brobdignagian proportions. What Bear Mountain owes its name to we confess that we are unable to say, but it is probable that some early hunter's exploit, or perhaps the prevalence of the tribe of bruin, suggested it. There is one more of the principal elevations of the Highlands to mention. Mr. Charles M.