* * *

            Along the ragged top
  Smiles a rich stripe of gold that up still glides
  Until it dwindles to a thread and then,
  As breath glides from a mirror, melts away.

Alfred B. Street.

* * *

=Big Indian.=—­It is said that about a century ago, a noble red man dwelt in these parts, who, early in life, turned his attention to agriculture instead of scalping, and won thereby the respect of the community.  Tradition has it that he was about seven feet in height, but was overpowered by wolves, and was buried by his brethren not far from the station, where a “big Indian” was carved out of a tree near by for his monument.  An old and reliable inhabitant stated that he remembered the rude statue well, and often thought that it ought to be saved for a relic, as the stream was washing away the roots; but it was finally carried down by a freshet, and probably found its way to some fire-place in the Esopus Valley.  “So man passes away, as with a flood.”  There is another tale, one of love but less romantic, wherein he was killed by his rival and placed upright in a hollow tree.  Perhaps neither tradition is true, and quite possibly the Big Indian name grew out of some misunderstanding between the Indians and white settlers over a hundred years ago.  As the train leaves the station it begins a grade of 150 feet per mile to—­

=Pine Hill=, a station perched on the slope of Belle Ayr Mountain.  This is the watershed between the Esopus and the Delaware, and 226 feet above us, around the arcs of a double horseshoe, is the railway summit, 1,886 feet above the tide.

=Grand Hotel Station.=—­The New Grand, the second largest hotel in the Catskills, with a frontage of 700 feet, stands on a commanding terrace less than half a mile from the station.  The main building faces southwest and overlooks the hamlet of Pine Hill, down the Shandaken Valley to Big Indian.  The mountains, “grouped like giant kings” in the distance are Slide Mountain, Panther Mountain, Table and Balsam Mountains.  Panther Mountain, directly over Big Indian Station, with Atlas-like shoulders, being nearer, seems higher, and is often mistaken for Slide Mountain.  Table Mountain, to the right of the Slide, is the divide between the east branch of the Neversink and the Rondout.

Continuing our journey from the summit we pass through Fleischmann’s to—­

=Arkville=, railway station for Margaretville, one and a half miles distant, and Andes twelve miles—­connected by stages.  Furlough Lake, the mountain home of George Gould, is seven miles from Arkville.  An artificial cave near Arkville, with hieroglyphics on the inner walls, attracts many visitors.  Passing through Kelly’s Corners and Halcottville, we come to—­

=Roxbury= (altitude 1,497 feet), a quaint old village at the upper end of which is the Gould Memorial Church.  Miss Helen Gould spends part of her summer here and has done much to make beautiful the village of her father’s boyhood.  Grand Gorge comes next 1,570 feet above the tide, where stages are taken for Gilboa three miles, and Prattsville five miles distant, on the Schoharie Creek.  Pratt’s Rocks are visited by hundreds because of the carving in bas-relief of Colonel Pratt and figures emblematic of his career.