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Show [ 174 J 62 the main chain to the spot where we stood. Here, wh~re the ~ake glittered in the open snnlight, its ba~1ks of yellow sand_ancl tit~' ltgllt ,f~hag,e ~f,~sp~n groves contr~sted well w1th the gloorpy pmes. Nev( I be lute, . se:ud l\lr Preuss, "in til is country or in Europe> have I seen such magnificent, gra;ld rock ." I wa so mncl~ pleased with the beau~y o~ t.he place, that 1 determined to lllakP the ma111 carnp here, whr.re our anmMis would find good pa rurnge, a11d ex plore the mountains with a small party of men. Proceeding a little fnrther, we came snddenly upon the outlet of_ the lake, where it found its way through a narrow passnge between low btlb. Dark p ines, which ovcrlttlllg the stream, ~n<.l masses ofr rock, where the wa_ter fo ... 1ned alono-. aave it nwch romaut1c beauty. v\ bere we crossrd, wh1ch • .... < b· b d ftf r . ·was immediately at the outlet, it is two hundred ~n 1 ty 1eet wtclP, and so deep, that with diflicnlty we \V( re aLle to ford tt. It bed was an accmuubtion of rocks, boulders, ::ttH1 broad slabs, and large angular [rag. ments, among which the auimals fell repeatedly. The cmre11t was veqr swift, and the water cold, and o[ a cry~tal purity. In crossing this strc~m, l met with a great misfortune i_ll ha_viug rny barometer broken. It was the only one. A great part of the wterest of the journey for me was in the exploratiotl of tltese m~nntn.in s, of which ~o much had been said that was doubtful and contradtctory; and now theu snowy pPal{s wst> mtlj es tically lief(H'e me, awl the only rneans of giv ing them authentical ly to ~cicncc, the object of my anxious solicitude by night and cJay, wa.· destroyed. \Ve ltad uron""httbi · barometer in safety a thOllsnnd miles, ami broke it almost among the snow ol the m\mntaips. The loss wa, felt by the whole camp-n.ll had :::con my anxiety, and aided me in preservin~ it. The height of these mountains, con~iJered by the hnnter and traders the highe::.l in the whole range, ha.d been a theme of constant uiscus~ion among them; and all !Jau lookcu forward with pleas. uc to the moment \VlH'tl tlte in trnment, which they believed to be true ~ · the 5-un, should stand npon the sumn~its, and dcciue their disputes. ''I'hetr grief was only inferior to my owu. Thi~ lake is abont three mile· long, ::md of very irreg11l rtr width, and a pp nentl y ~rrat depth, and is the !J eat! wa tc r of the t lr ird New Fork, a t ri bntary to Green 1 i vcr, the Colorado of the we t. On the map and in the rwrr.11i vc, I have called it Mountain IRk<•. I enc:amped on the north side, abo11Ltltrec lmm1rN] and fifty yard._ from the outlet. This was the most we ·tc>r.l point at whiclt I obtained a tro11omical ob~ervation:::. by which ln::- plnrp cni J,•d Bemier's rncrunpmcnt, i~ made in 110° OS' 0 ~3" west 1011· girnd·• r~·o , n Greenwich, and latttude 43° 49' 49". The mountain peaks, as IJid dnwn, were fixed by benrinas from this and otlser astiOllOlllical pollliS. \Vc h·1d no other compass t~an the small oucs used ill skctchill0 ahe c~mntry; but from an azimuth, iu wl1idl one o[ th elll was used. the vanatiou of the co mpa~s is 18° e~1st. Tile correction made in our field wotk hy tl1c astronotuicnl observ.Hions indicates thnt tltis is a very correct observ,t t ion. :\s. S10ll as t~te cnmp was formC'd, I f>Ct a Lout endeavoring to rep<lir my b~\o,mf tf'r. As I b;n·e alrenuy ,'~lit!, this wa: a :-.tanuard ci:teru barolllcter, ot 1 ron~hlon 's ronst tuction. TIH.· glas$ ci-;tcrn huu been broke11 about Ju lth;~~ Y ; ~lllt. as t~c iu -t rument ltad hcen kept iu a proper positiotl, 11~ air had fu.1 tHJ tts way .mto the tube, the e11d of which had always remawed covered. I had w1tlt me a ll~Hnber of vials of tolerably thick gla s, son!e of wluch were of the same dtameter u.s the ci:,tern, and I spent tho day Ill 63 [ 174 J slowly working on these, endeavoring to cut them of the requisite lc n ~th . but, a' my instrument was a very rough file, I invariably brokt: them~ A groove wa cut itt one of the trees, where tile barometer was placed cluritJa the night, to be out of the way of a.ny possible danfT 'r, and in the mornitw 1 commenced ag<.1 it!. Among the powder horm: in the camp, I foulld 011~ ~hich ·was very transparen~, so th.at its contents conld be almost a .. plainly ~ern as throngh gla .. s. Tlus I boded anu stretched on a piece of wool\ to the requijte diameter, and scrapeu it very tltin, in order to inc. rca e to the utmost its transpare11cy. I then secured it firmly in its place 011 tlte iustrumeut, with strollg gl n? mad~ fr?m a l~uffalo, at Jd fiiiPd it with utercmy. properly heated. A ptecc of skm, wlllch had covned one of the vial:-; fumi hcd a gnod pocket, which was well seemed with strong thrcnd a 11d glue, and tltcn the bra s cover was screwed to its place. '!'he i11strmurut was left some time to dry; and wheu I reversed if, a frw I lOll! s aftt'r, I had the sati~factiou to fi1 1d it in perfect order; its iudications being about the same as on the otll r side of the Juke before it had hcc11 brokL•n. Our success in this ltttlc incident di(fu ·ed plea nrc tltrongho ut tlw camp; and we immediately set about our preparations for a cct1ding tlte montllains. A " will be seen 011 reference to a mnp, ou this ~!tort monntain chaiu arc the ltrad waters of four great rivers of the continel! t; uamely, the Colorado, Colnmhia, 'WliSSllllri, artd Platte rivers. It had bct~n my de;-;ion after having asceuded the mountains, to contillUC our route on the \\~L!Stern ide of the range, and crossing through a pa~s at the uorth west em end of the chain, about thirty miles •from onr pre~ent camp, return along the ~astern lope, acros, the heads of the Yellowstone river, and join on the l u~e to our tatio11 of AGgu ·t 7, immeuiatcly at tlte foot of the riuge. In th1s way, I should be enabled to iucluue the wlwle clwit1, and its Humerous water, , in my survey; but variou considerations inducl'd me, very re luctantly, to abandon this plan. · I was desil\Hls to keep strictly within the scope of my in tructi11n~; and It wo1tld have req11ir0d ten or fifteen additiortal clays. for tl1e H'~co mplishment of this ?bje t; onr auimal · had u~con w very much worn out with tho length of the JOIHW'Y; gumc was very scarce; and, tltongh it lloes nolappc>nr in the course of the namtive, (as I have avoided dwelling upna tri1lt11g in ci dents not conncctct1 with the objects of the expeditio11,) tlJC ~pirits of the men had been mnch exhaustt'd by the hardsl1ips l\tlll pri,rations to wltil h they had b<' e!J snhj< ctcd. Our provi ·ions had wclluigh all di,appcarcd. 3r~a? lwd been loug out of the question; aud of <1ll om stock, "·chad ff' nm~mncr two or three pounds or cofree, and a s tnall quantity of nwcc Jl'Olll , whtch had bern husbanded with great care for thl' nJOlllll'lin expedition we were aLoul to nndcrtake. Our daily mral consi~ted of drv b11ffal<l mca r, cooked in tallow;. and, as we had uot dried rlti~, with lur1bn ,·kd , part of it was spoiled; and what remained of good, was ~~~ hn rd .ts \V ()O 1 havi11_g much the taste and appeamnce of o u~~ny pit'Cl'~ of baric Evt'll of th1s, our stock was rapidly dimitJi~hiu g in a cump which wa~ capable of consnming two buffaloes in every twetJty-f'om !toms. Thc~c nnituuls h~d cntjrely disappeared; and it was not prolmhlc tlJ lt we should fall 1 With them again until we returned to tlte Sweel \Yater. · Onr_ arrangements for tltc asceut were rapidly compldeu. \.Yc were Itt "; host1le country, which reuuered the greatc t vig ilance and circnm"pr<" twn llect's~a ry. The pass at the north end of the nlOtllltain was gencraHy mfestcd by Blackfeet; and immediately opposite was one of their forts, otl |