Prom the latter, a majestic view of mountain scenery, and of the lowlands southward, may be obtained at the price of a little fatigue, for which full compensation is given. The Katers-Kill* lakes, lying in a basin a short distance from the Mountain House, with all their grand surroundings, the house itself, and the South Mountain, and the Eound Top or Liberty Cap, form the middle ground ; while in the dim distance the winding Hudson, with the Esopus, Shawangunk, and Highland rangesare revealed, the borders of the river dotted with villas and towns appearing mere white specks on the landscape.

LITTLE more than tvro miles from the Mountain ie, by a rough road, is an immense gorge scooped from the rugged hills, into which pours the gentle outlet of the little Katcrs-Kill lakes, in a fall first of one hundred and seventy-five feet, and close to it another of eighty feet. The falls have been so well described by the " Leatherstocking " ("Natty Bumpo"), that a better picture cannot be drawn : -- There's a place," said JS'atty, after describing the view from t^ the Platform Rock at the Mountain House, "that in late times I M relished better than the mountains, for it was more kivered by the / trees, and more nateral."

" And where was that?" inquired Edwards. *' Why, there's a fall in the hills, where the water of two little ponds, that lie near each other, breaks out of their bounds, and runs over the rocks into the valley. The stream is, may be, such a one as would turn a mill, if so useless a thing was wanted in the wilderness. But the hand that made that ' Leap ' never made a mill ! There the water comes crooking and winding among the rocks, first so slow that a trout might swim in it, and then starting and running, just like any creatur that wanted to make a far spring, till it gets to where the mountain divides like the cleft hoof of a deer, leaving a deep hollow for the brook to tumble into.