WA-WA-YAN-DAH LAKE, NEW JERSEY.

(CROPSEY.)

WA-WA-YAN-DAH LAKE is situated on the Wa-wa-yan-dah Mountains, in the township of Vernon, Sussex county, New Jersey, about three and a half miles from the boundary between New York and New Jersey, and about two miles from the line between Sussex and Passaic counties. The word "Wa-wa-yan-dah," in the Indian language, means "Winding Stream," so that both the lake and the mountain derive their name from this the Lake and Mountain of the Winding Stream. The outlet of the lake after winding in various directions empties in the Wall-kill. The lake is called by the settlers on the mountain, the "Double Pond," from the fact that an island nearly separates it into two ponds; the water is of great depth, fed by cold springs, and produces very fine trout.

An old man, named Jeremiah Edes, who formerly lived near the lake, tells of an old German, who came there with a tradition handed down to him from his grandfather, that a vein of precious ore existed near a lake, which answered to the description of this one; which ore he was to seek for between four trees, near the bank; that he, Edes,

assisted the German in his search, which after several months resulted in the discovery of some shining metal, of which the German took several lumps back to Germany, after carefully hiding the spot, and binding Edes, by a solemn oath, not to reveal the place.

The lake is about one mile in extent, either way it is about fifteen miles from the Chester Dépôt of the New York and Erie Railroad, and is usually visited from this place or from Greenwood Lake.

To the above description, kindly furnished by a friend, we add an extract from a letter from Mr. Cropsey, the artist whose picture we have copied :

The country is mountainous and covered mostly by forests; but the little ridges and valleys that lie between the mountains are cultivated; farmhouses dot them here and there, amid apple orchards and luxuriant meadows-brooks wind through the meadows or 'linger with many a fall' down the wooded hill-side, sustaining here and there a mill, and then loosing themselves in some swamp, or spreading out in some placid little lake or pond. All the country, as I passed along, was highly picturesque, possessing to a great extent the wild beauty of the Catskill and White Mountain country, combined with the tame and cultivated Orange county, next which it lies.

"Near the lake, and supplied by its water, is an iron work with a pretty clearing in the woods around-with numerous neat little cottages for the workmen a store-the manager's house, and all that kind of incident that indicates a new-made but flourishing place. Upon the high ground near by, and near where my view was taken, can be seen beyond the Sha-wan-gunk Mountains the Catskills, and from another position not far distant is distinctly seen Mount Adam and Mount Eve."

THE peculiar beauty of American mountains is rather incidental than
intrinsic; we seldom gaze upon one with the delight awakened by an
individual charm, but usually on account of its grand effect as part of
a vast landscape. Our scenery is on so large a scale as to yield sub-
lime rather than distinct impressions; the artist feels that it is requi-
site to select and combine the materials afforded by nature, in order to
produce an effective picture; and although our country is unsurpassed
in bold and lovely scenes, no ordinary patience and skill are needed
to choose adequate subjects for the pencil. The outline of the moun-
tains is almost invariably rounded; the peaks of Alpine summits and
the graceful linear curves of the Apennines render them far more pic-
turesque. As we stand on the top of Mount Washington, or the Cat-
skills, the very immensity of the prospect renders it too vague for the
limner; it inspires the imagination more frequently than it satisfies
the eye. Indeed, general effect is the characteristic of American sce- ✓✓
nery; the levels are diffused into apparently boundless prairies, and
the elevations spread in grand but monotonous undulations; only here