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Show BLACK FLIES- ANTELOPE ISLAND COVE. 205 found silence that reigned around me. The night was cold, and I found two great- coats exceedingly welcome. While passing from camp over the sand- flats, this morning, I observed a quantity of translucent, white, pink, and blood- coloured matter, of a gelatinous, or rather mucilaginous character, spread about in coagulated masses upon the sand, whither it had apparently been washed up from the lake by yesterday's gale. The quantity was considerable, and, if the whole shore was similarly lined, must have been very great. An incredible number of small black flies, also, perfectly covered the white sand near the shore, changing its colour completely- a fact only revealed as the swarms rose upon being disturbed by our footsteps. They, too, had apparently been driven in by the storm; for I afterward discovered that they were almost as thick upon the water as upon the land, moving over its surface with great ease and swiftness. In the shallows left by the receding waters, I noticed also quite a number of ants, ( the first I had seen,) drowned seemingly by the overflow. Both of these insects doubtless furnish food for the gulls and snipes, which are almost the only birds found along the shores. Saturday, June 15.- Daylight found the boat at the mouth of the passage between Fremont and Antelope Islands, and, shortly after, we entered the beautiful little cove on the north- east side of the latter, from the banks of which several springs trickle down from the base of a small cliff of protruding rocks. The scene was calm and lovely in the extreme. The rays of the rising sun, glancing brightly over the eastern mountains, shone upon the tiny ripples of the placid little bay, upon whose bosom a flock of snow- white gulls was calmly floating; while the green and gently sloping shores, covered with a luxuriant growth of rich and waving grass, contrasted strongly in our minds with the dreary and desolate waste of sand over which we had been roaming for the last month. Several little mocking- birds were singing gayly on the shore, and the shrill, cheerful whistle of the curlew resounded along the bfeach. Four graceful antelopes were quietly grazing on the grassy slope, while the cry of the wild duck, and the trumpet- note of the sandhill crane were heard in the distance. The whole formed a picture which, in this desolate region, was as welcome as it was rare. I found, this morning, that my conjecture respecting the food of the gulls had been correct. Across the little bay ran a broad streak of froth or foam, formed by the meeting of counter currents, |