Page:Boy scouts in the White Mountains; the story of a long hike (IA boyscoutsinwhite00eato).pdf/297

 "There, Peanut, now you know!" laughed Art.

"I like it, too," Peanut declared. "I don't see why more of these mountains and places aren't named after Indians, or with Indian names, like Moosilauke and Pemigewassett and Ammonoosuc. Why should this mountain be called Madison, for instance? He didn't discover it, or even ever see it, maybe."

"Who did discover the White Mountains, by the way?" asked Rob. "I never thought of that before."

The same man who had answered before again replied. He seemed to know all about these hills. "Mount Washington, which was named in the first years of Washington's administration, when all sorts of things were being named for him, was the first mountain climbed in the United States," he said. "Darby Field accomplished it in 1642, after a trip of exploration in from the coast, through the then trackless forest. The only account of the trip is in Governor John Winthrop's journal, which you'll find in your public library, or it ought to be there, if it isn't. Field was accompanied by two Indians. It took them eighteen days to get here and back. At the foot of the ascent was an Indian village, but these Indians dared accompany him no nearer the top than eight miles, as they never climbed mountains. His own two Indians went on with him. From the fact that his ascent was, he says, for the