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. Skinner, in his delightful Myths and Legends, calls it "the aquiline promontory that abuts on the Hudson opposite Dun- derberg." There is at its base an opening that, from a distance, resembles nothing so much as an ant-hill entrance, and from near at hand suggests the den of some fabulotis monster that issues, with basilisk eye, and flame and smoke, from the bowels of the earth. Really it is a fair compromise between these two ex- treme estimates, being nothing more nor less than a railway tunnel. The origin of the name of this hill is not a matter of doubt, since it has been satisfactorily explained by the grand arbiter of Hudson River names and legends. It was not named after the redoubtable saint of the same name, as one might naturally suppose, but was called in honour of that Dutchman of parts, Anthony Van Corlaer, the trumpeter: It must be known then that the nose of Anthony the trumpeter was of a very lusty size, strutting boldly from his Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Among the Hills 361 countenance like a mountain of Golconda, being sumptuously- bedecked with rubies and other precious stones — the true regalia of a king of good fellows, which jolly Bacchus grants to all who bouse it heartily at the flagon. Now thus it happened, that bright and early in the morning, the good Anthony, having washed his burly visage, was leaning over the quarter rail of the galley (of Stuyvesant's yacht, in the Highlands), contem- plating the glassy wave below. Just at this moment the illus- trious sun, breaking in all his splendour from behind a high bluff of the Highlands, did dart one of his most potent beams full upon the refulgent nose of the sounder of brass — the reflec- tion of which shot straightway down hissing hot, into the water, and killed a mighty sturgeon that was sporting beside the vessel. This huge monster being with infinite labour hoisted on board, furnished a luxurious repast to all on board, being accounted of excellent flavor, except about the wound, where it smacked a little of brimstone — and this, on my veracity, was the first time that sturgeon was ever eaten in these parts by Christian people. When this astonishing miracle came to be known to Peter Stuy- vesant, and that he tasted of the unknown fish, he, as raay well be supposed, marvelled exceedingly ; and as a monument thereof, he gave the name of Anthony's Nose to a stout promontory in that neighbourhood, and it has continued to be called Anthony's Nose ever since. As an offset to the foregoing, we may quote from Dolph Heyliger's adventures the unequalled descrip- tion of Highland scenery and a gathering storm : In the second day of the voyage they came to the highlands. It was the latter part of a calm, sultry day, that they floated gently with the tide between these stern mountains. There was that perfect quiet which prevails over nature in the languor of summer heat ; the turning of a plank, or the accidental fall- ing of an oar on deck, was echoed from the mountain-side and reverberated along the shores; and if by chance the captain gave a shout of command, there were airy tongues which mocked it from every cliff. Digitized by Microsoft® 362 The Hudson River Dolph gazed about him in mute delight and wonder at these scenes of nature's magnificence. To the left the Dunderberg reared its woody precipices, height over height, forest over forest, away into the deep summer sky. To the right strutted forth the bold promontory of Antony's Nose, with a solitary eagle wheeling about it, while beyond, mountain succeeded to mountain, until they seemed to lock their arms together, and confine this mighty river in their embraces. There was a feeling of quiet luxury in gazing at the broad, green bosoms here and there scooped out among the precipices ; or at woodlands high in air, nodding over the edge of some beetling bluff, and their foliage all transparent in the yellow sunshine. In the midst of his admiration, Dolph remarked a pile of