In that day nearly all of Virginia was in the “tide-water country,” but Spotswood had often heard of the valley beyond the Blue Ridge. He made up his mind to go and see this region, and brought together a party to make the journey. They took their servants and pack horses and carried provisions and many bottles of the wine which the Germans had made. There was good hunting in the unbroken forest and they had all the venison and other wild meat they could have wished. A good map of Virginia will show us Harpers Ferry, where the Potomac river runs through a deep gap in the Blue Ridge. Looking along the range to the southwest, we shall find, about eighty miles away, Swift Run Gap, not so low a pass, but one which made it easy to cross the mountains and go down into the lowlands along the Shenandoah river. Spotswood and his friends climbed one of the peaks of the Blue Ridge and named it Mt. George, after the king. Another peak was named Alexander for the governor. Down by the Shenandoah they buried a bottle (the historian of Virginia thinks that by this time they must have had several that were empty), and in the bottle was a paper stating that they took possession in the name of the king. They called the river the Euphrates, but the name did not cling to it. We may be glad of that, for the Indian name of Shenandoah is much more musical. [Illustration: FIG. 50. LURAY, SHENANDOAH VALLEY] If Spotswood had crossed the lowlands, he would have found himself among other mountains running parallel to the Blue Ridge. Between the two ranges is the valley of the Shenandoah, or, as it is quite as often called, the valley of Virginia. The land is flat and the soil deep and rich. The soft shales and limestone of ancient higher lands have wasted away here, between the higher mountains on either side, and thus we find a valley and a fertile valley floor. The place was wild and lonely when this band of explorers visited it, but to-day it is a country rich in interest and associations. If we go northeast we shall pass Winchester, which became famous in the Civil War. In another part of the valley is Luray, where the limestones have been dissolved under the ground, making a large cavern with beautiful stalactites. Still going northward, we shall pass Harpers Ferry on our right and cross the Potomac. On our right also, after we cross the river, is Antietam, where a severe battle was fought between Lee and McClellan. A little farther on is Hagerstown, Colonel Rochester’s old home, in the state of Maryland.