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Show l 243 J 6-i dunce. A small green ruviue, on the cd~e of. \~hieh We were eucump'ed, wni filled with u profu::>ion of Alpine plant~ m l)l'lll1an~ bloom. _From b~rometrica. l ouservntions, made during our I hrec day ~' SOJOUrn at tIlls place, 1ts elevation above the Gulf of Mexico i~ 10,000 feel. During the day, we had scert no sirrn of anirwtl life; but nntong the rocks I ten~ , we heard what was supposcJ to be the bleat of a young goat, which. we ~curched for with_ltungry activity, and found to proceed frot.r.t a ~lltttll an.unnl of n grny color, w1~h short 'Cars and no tail; probauly the ~rber~an sc.lutrrel. ~ e s~nv a consH.Jer~bl_o nuntber of th em aud with the exception of a small l.>1rd l1ke a sparrow, Itii the only iullabit:ull of thi~ elevated part of tire mountains. On our return, n e aw·, below 1 his lake, large ilocks of the nwuutain g-oat. "\V e had nothit\g to cat to-night. Lajeunc~se , with scvend others, took their guus, and sallied out in search of a gout; but returned unsucccs:ful. At sunset, tbe barometer stood ut 20.5 :~2-the attach d thermometer 50° . Ilere we bnd the misfor~ tunc tu break our thernlOtlteler, h: .w. ing now only thut attached to the barometer. I was taken ill 8l10rtly after we hncl encatn p'ed, and continued so until late in the night, witl1 violent headache and vomiting. 'rlti::) was probably caused by tlte excessive fatigue I bad undergone, !!lld want of food, and perhaps also in souw nteastHC by the rarity of the air. 'rhc night was cold, as a violent gu.le from tlte north had sprung up at sunset, which entirely blew away the heat of tlte fires. The cold, and our granite beds, had not been favorable to ~ l ee p, and we were glad to see the face of the sun in the morning. Not beiug delayed by any preparation fot· breakfa!::!l, we set out immediately. On every ::;ide as we advanced was heard the roar of waters, and of a torrent, which we followed up u short di~tmw e, until it expanded into a lako about oue mile in lengtlt. Un tiJC ttortlteru ' ide of the lake wns a bank of ice, or rather of snow, covereJ with a cru -t. or ice. Gar-on had been our guiue into the moLmtnin::;, and agree<Lbly 10 his advice, we left t~•is little V[tl~ ley, and took l0 tlte ridges again; wltirlt W<' found extrentely btOkcti, and where we were agaiu involved i..liiHHr<r prc·cipi cc..;. Here were icc fields, among which we \\'('l'e all di ·pn~ed, seeking- each the best path to ascend the pe~\k. 1\1r. . Pn•tr.·~ at 1 er11 pte<l to walk alon~ tlte upper edge of one of these ~wkl~, ~vluc!t slopt·d. away at an u11gle of about tweuty dcgrecli, but his feet slrppe_tl front llttder !trtu, and he went !11ung in~ clown the plane. A few hnntlreu feet below, at the buttom, were some ftno·rneuts of sharp rock on whi~h he li..u!d~~c.l ; aud though he turned a couple0 of somersets, fortunn~ely rccetvecl ll{) lllJUI'Y beyond H few urui ·es. '1\vo of tho men, Clement Lambert nml Descoteaux, l1ad bceu taken ill and Jaid down on the rocks a short distance below; and alllti::l point I was n~tackcd witlt headache and (Tiddi1~ess, accotllpanied by vomititw, as on the day before. l•'inding mysclf~mable to proceet1, I sent 1he ba~otueter ov.e~ to ~r. Preuss, who was in a gap two ot three hundred Y.anls cltslant, de ·trmg I 11m to reach the peak if possible, and take a!1 o~se rvnllon there. lie found ltimself unable to proceed further i1t that dtrect1011, and look an Observation Where the uarotneter stood, at 19.4..01- nttached th.ennome.ter 50° , in t.hc gap. Cm·sou, who had gone over to hi111, succeeded 1n rcaclllllg 011e of the ~nowy sunttllits of the main riclrre whence h~ saw the peak lowardti wlticlt all our effort~ bad been directed, 'towering etght or ten hundred feet into tile air above hirn. Iu the lllenntirllc, finding ntysclf .grow ruther worse ~hnn .better, and doubtful how far my strength would carry 111e, l sent Bast! LaJeunesse, with four men back to the pl!tce where the mules hucl been left. 65 [ 243] \Ve were now Letter ucqnaintcd witlt the topogrnplty of the co11ntry, all(l i direct d him to brino- bnrk with him, if it were in nrty way po:;:;siule, four or five mules with provi~inns nnd hla11kets. With tHe were Milxwell nnd .-\yot; and afl'er we had remained nea rly nn hour on the ro ·k, it became so unpleasa11tly cold, .tlwugh the dny was bright, tltnt we. ('tout on our return to the cnmp, at \\'lti ch we all nrrivcd safely, straggling in one after the other. 1 contiuu cd ill durinrr the afternoon, but became better towards sundown, ' •hen my rccorery w~s completed by tlte nppcamnce of Basil nttd four men, \dl tllOU~Hed. The nH' ll wlw had gone willt lt irn had been too much fat io·ucd to re turn nnd w re r£'li evcd by tlto~e in chur0crc of the horses; but h , - in his powers of endnrance Ba ·il resembled more a mountain goat than a mnn. They br<;>ugltt blank ' Is and prov isiot1s, and we rnjoy ·dwell our dried nwnt and a cup of good coffee. \Ve rol led ourselves up in our blankets, and with our feet tumcd ton blazing lire, . lc•pl ~ou n dly un1il morning. ·1 ugust 15.- lt harl bcun s u ppo~rd that W' had finish ed with the mountains; and the evening hefnre, it !tad h •en nrrnnp;cd tlwt Carsoll should .set out at dayligh t, and retnrn to br akfas t at the Untnp of the Mules, taktng witlt him all bttt four or five ttH·n, who were to stay wi1h me antl bring back the mnles r.'nd inst ntm 'nts. Accordingly, HI the break of day they set out. \Vith Mr. Prenss and my ·el C remained Basi I 1 ~nj e un es~e, Clement Lambert, Janis · ·, and Dr cotennx. \Vlten we hud secured stre11gth for the uny hy a hearty breakfast, we covered what remain ·d, which Wll~ enough fo r one meal, wi1h rock·, in order that it might be safe fr01n any mnrauding bird; and, saddling onr mnlrs, turned our faces once more towards the penks. 'l'hi time we determined to proceed quietly aud cautio11sly, deliberate! y resol vcd to accotn pi ish Olll' object if it were wi til ~n tltc compass of hnmnn means. We were of opinion that a long defile whiclt Jay to the left of yestcrc.lay's route would lend ns to the foot of the mai11 peale Our 1nulcs had been refreshed by the fine g rass in the li1tle ravine at the j lnnd camp, nncl we intended to ride up the defile as far ns possible, in order to hnsband our strength for tl1e main l'l cent. 'J'honglt thi. \VH a fine passage, still it was a defile of the most rn g~ccl mon11tains known, and we had mnny a rongh and steep slippery place to rross before reaching the end. In Lhis place the sun rarely shone, snuw lay along the border of the small stream which flowed through it, and occasional icy passagc8 made the footing ol the mules very in ccure, and the rocks nnu ground were moist with the trickling waters in this spring of mighty rivers. We soon hnd the . atisfaction to find onn~clves riding along tlte h11ge wall which forms the central summits of the chain. 'I'Iwre at last it rose by onr ide·, a nearly perpendicular wall of g ranite, terminating 2:000 to 3,000 feet above onr heads in a serrated line of broken , jngcred cones. We rode on until we came almost immediately below the 1nain peak, which I dcnorninnted the Snow Peak, as it exhibited nwre snow to the eye than any of 1 he nciahboring Stllumitd. Ilere were three small lakr.s of a green color, cndt of perl~aps a.thousand yards in diameter, and nppareut ly very deep. These lay m a lnnd of chasm; and, according to the barometer, we llud nttaiued but a few hqndred feet above the Island luke. The barometer here stood at 20.450, attached thermometer 70° . We managed to get our mules n p to a 1 ittlc bench nbout n h 11ncl red f~et above the lakes, where there was a patch of crood oTa~s nnd tu nwd them l . t'> h ' oosc to O'rnze. Dunng onr rough ride to this place they had exhibited a wonderful snrefootedness. Parts of the defile were filled with anrru lar ;-) 0 ' |