OCR Text |
Show CLIF* OF. ALUM SLATE, * / 169 ances promised a chance of landihg. The witter was bold to witth* thuee or four, boats^ length Qf the pebbly shore, but the meft were - obliged to get into the water and catry the baggage to land, and thence nearly a Quarter of a mile to the foot of the mountain, before finding ground upon which to encamp. Serial'of them were . quite* unwell from previous^ expogure, and all were jaded, stiff, and pore.. ./ '• , •- . • ' ' • . * . •' The Nearest water was two miles distant, and heed, to be carried hi India- rubber bags and kegs- upon the shouMefs.. No biteakfost was. to be. had unti> near noon, and the remainder of the day was devoted to rest and to drying our clothing and bedding, The sun was blight for most of the day, but the-. wind was- keen ' and cold. < The presence or absence of the sun ill f his climate has a marked influence upon the temperature. The day'may be oppressively warm, but assoon as the sun disappears behind the western mountains, a fire is indispensable to comfort. The ntoming early- may be very cold, but soon after the appearance of the'sun, cloth coats • - ttecome uncomfortable. Should the teun become overclouded for . any lepgth of time, they are resumed. ' . • Sego% are here vefy abundant, and of a large size, and ar^ found in every tuft of bunch- grass. Jn the vicinity, a cliff was, discovered, of altfm Blate, nearly A mile in ten. gth, and' about sixty feet in height abote . the lake. It is* traversed by several dikes of ', trap, with cubical crystals of iron. pyrites, and by ohe dike of quartz* roek. . The slate contains numerous Veiqs of very pure' fibrous altiin. Between this cliff find Promontory • Point there ootpir. strata of mica slate, fine grindstone- grit, sandstone, and albite. . • • ' Friday, April 19^- Rain duripg the night. ' typrning wet, coldj an^ raw/ ' Nevertheless, we started in the boat for a large island west of Antel6pe Island, which the officers of the party had done me the honour to call by my name. After Greeting a station upon, ita northern point, it wall my intention to proceed to Black Rocky a larg3, isolated rock on the southern shore of, the lake, midway between the two islands, to erect a station upon it: thence! designed to accompany Lieutenant Gunnison tp town, and fit out W party, to be placed under his command/ for the survey of the east-, • . era shore of the lake, as well as of that ' part of the Valley lying between it and the foot of the TVahsatclx range,. It rained' ax^ d snowed several times in the course of the morning, and the day * wa$ very cold and unpleasant. We erected the station upon a pro- . |