We have come to the famous region in Western North Carolina, the resort for health and pleasure, the "Land of the Sky," sought both in winter and summer on account of its pure, bracing atmosphere and equable climate, and where eighty thousand visitors go in a year. Between the Unaka and Great Smoky range of mountains which is the western North Carolina boundary, and the Blue Ridge to the eastward, there is a long and diversified plateau with an average elevation of two thousand feet, stretching two hundred and fifty miles from northeast to southwest, and having a width of about twenty-five miles. Various mountain spurs cross it between the ranges from one towards the other, and numerous rivers rising in the Blue Ridge flow westward over it and break through picturesque gorges in the Great Smoky Mountains to reach the Tennessee River, the most noted of these streams being the French Broad. From any commanding point along the Great Smoky range there may be seen stretching to the east and south a vast sea of ridges, peaks and domes. No single one dominates, but most all of them reach nearly the same altitude, appearing like the waves in a choppy sea, the ranges growing gradually less distinct as they are more distant. The whole region seems to be covered with a mantle of dark forest, excepting an occasional clearing or patch of lighter-colored grass. Very few rocky ledges appear, so that the slopes are smoothed and softened by the generous vegetation. The atmosphere also tends to the same result, the blue haze, so rarely absent, giving the names both to the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains. This haze softens everything and imparts the effect of great distance to peaks but a few miles away. Thus the remarkable atmospheric influence produces more impressive views than are got from greater peaks and longer distances in a clearer air elsewhere. The most elevated peak of the district, Mount Mitchell, rises four hundred and twenty-five feet higher than Mount Washington in the White Mountains. It was named for Professor Elisha Mitchell, who was an early explorer, a native of Connecticut, and Professor in the University of North Carolina, who lost his life during a storm on the mountain in 1857, and is buried at the summit. From its sides the beautiful Swannanoa River, the Indian "running water," flows eighteen miles westward to fall into the French Broad at Asheville, the centre and chief city of this charming region, whose fame has become world-wide. "Land of forest-clad mountains, of fairy-like streams, Of low, pleasant valleys where the bright sunlight gleams Athwart fleecy clouds gliding over the hills, 'Midst the fragrance of pines and the murmur of rills. "A land of bright sunsets, whose glories extend From horizon to zenith, there richly to blend The hues of the rainbow, with clouds passing by-- Right well art thou christened 'The Land of the Sky.'