{69} Next we walked up to the higher ground, to enjoy the prospect afforded by this stupendous elevation.
From this summit a sweep of hundreds of miles is visible, except where remote intervening mountains break the line of the horizon, which in other parts is lost in the interminable azure wherewith the heaven and the earth are blended. Ideas of immensity swelled and exalted our minds as we contemplated a prospect partaking so much of infinitude; and we felt some wonderful relations to an universe without boundary or end.
Descending the mountain, we reached Metzker's, an obscure inn, to lodge.
Thursday, June 16
We rose early in the morning and pursued our journey. For several miles we had an excellent road on the top of Dry Ridge. The sky was clear. The stars shone brightly. All was solemn and still, as if "nature felt a pause." For some time we but dimly discerned our way; but, as the twilight became brighter, the prospect opened before us. The increasing light of dawning day extended the stretch of picturesque scenery. The horizon assumed a {70} hue of tawny red, which gradually heightened into ruddy tints, and formed a glowing tiara to encircle the splendors of the rising sun. The orb of day rose with uncommon grandeur among clouds of purple, red, and gold, which mingling with the serene azure of the upper sky, composed a richness and harmony of colouring which we never saw surpassed. The vapours of the night rested in the vallies below, and seemed to the view one vast
- [Footnote: British army. The fort was garrisoned until the close of the French wars in
1765, and never again re-occupied save for a few days during the Whiskey Rebellion (1794). For a detailed history of this place, see Lowdermilk, History of Cumberland (Washington, 1878).—Ed.]
