Topographically considered as a whole, the Cumberland range has its southern terminus in Alabama, and its northern in Pennsylvania. It is almost wholly composed of coal-bearing rocks, resting on Devonian strata, which are visible in many places in the valleys. But a small portion of the Cumberland lies above a plane of 2,000 feet. Walden's Ridge and Lookout Mountain vary in height from 2,000 to 2,500 feet. North of Grassy Cove, after the ridges are united, the variation from 2,000 feet is but little throughout the remainder of the State, and the general character of the table changes but little. The great and important difference is in the climate, the winters being much more severe in these mountains in the northern part of the State than in the southern, and the summers much more liable to sudden changes of weather. Scott, Fentress, and Morgan counties comprise this portion of the table, and these have not been included in my examination, excepting as to general features. In all our southern country, and I may say in our whole country, there is no other large extent of elevated territory which offers mankind a pleasant living place, a comfortable climate--none too cold or too hot--and productive lands. We have east of the upper waters of the great Tennessee River, in our State, and in North Carolina and Georgia, the great Blue Ridge range of mountains, known as the Unaka, or Smoky, Chilhowee, Great and Little Frog, Nantahala, etc., all belonging to the same family of hills. This chain has the same general course as the Cumberlands. It is a much bolder range of mountains, but it is vastly less inhabitable, productive, or convenient of access. The winters there are severely cold, and the nights in summer are too cold and damp for health and comfort, as I know by personal experience of two summers on Nantahala River. But the trout fishing is beyond comparison, and that is one inducement of great value for a stout consumptive _who is a good fellow_. These mountains are much more broken up into branches, peaks, and spurs than the Cumberlands. They afford no table terrritory of any extent. There are some excellent places there for hot summer visits--Ashville, Warm Springs, Franklin, and others. The Cumberland Mountains, as a whole, are flat, in broad level spaces, broken only by the "divides," or "gulfs," as they are called by the inhabitants, where the streams flow out into the valleys.