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Show I .I I I I . ~..... I !!0 0 FrN "'"' "'' tile Jra ,!' ('JI/,1'.' r-·\ . 1: 1(}(10()0 () • ~ I 155 [ 174 ] of his numerous trapping expeditions, in which he is celebrated as one of the best and bravest leaJers who have ever been in the country. The cliffs and masses of rock along the shore were whitened by an incrustation of salt where the waves dashed up against them; and the evaporating water, which had been left in holes and hollows on the surface of the rocks, was covered with a crust of salt about one-cio-hth of an inch in thickness. It appeared strange that, in the midst of this grand rP15ervoir, one of our greatest wants lately had been salt. Exposed to be more perfectly dried iu the sun, this became very white and fine, having the usual flavor of very excellent common salt, without any foreign taste ; but only a little was collected for pr escnt use, as there was in it a number <l small black insects. Carrying with us the barometer and other instruments, in the afternoon we ascended to the highest point of the island-a bare rocky peak, 800 feet above the lake. Standing on the summit, we enjoyed an extended view of the lake, enclosed in a basin of rugged mountains, \vhich sometimes left marshy flats aud extensive bottoms between them and the shore, and in other ])laces came directly down into the water with bold and precipitous bluffs. Following with our glasses the irregular shores, we searched for some indications of~ communication with other bodies of water, or the entrance of ()ther rivers; but the distance was so great that we could make out nothing with certaii·lty. To the southward, several peninsular mountains, 3,000 or 4,000 feet high, entered the lake, appearing, so far as the distance and our position enabled us to determine, to be connected by flats and low ridges with the mountains in the rear. Although these are probably the islands usually indicated on maps of this region as entirely detached from the shore, we have preferred to represent them, in the small map on the precedingpa~e, precisely as we were enabled to sketch them on the ground, leaving their more complete delineation for a future survey. The sketch, of which the scale b nearly sixteen miles to an inch, is introduced only to show clearly the extent of our operations, which, it will be remembered, were made when the waters were at their lowest stage. At the season of high waters in the sprin~, it is probable that all the marshes and low grounds are overflowed, and the surface of the lake considerably greater. In several places (which w~ll be indicated to you in the sketch, by the absence of the bordering mountams) the view was of unlimited extent-here and there a rocky islet appearing above the water at a great distance ; and beyond, every thing was vague aud undefined. As we looked over the vast expanse of water spread out beneath us, and strained our eyes along the silent shores over which hun~ so much doubt and uncertainty, and which were so full of interest to us, I could hardly repress the almost irresistible desire to continue our· exploration ; but the lenrrthening snow on the mountains was a plain indica- • t) twn of the advancing season, and our frail linen boat appeared .. o insec.ure that I was unwillinrr to trust our lives to the uncertainties of the lake. I !herefore unwillinglY resolved to terminate our survey here, and remain satIsfied for the present with what we haJ been able to add to the unknown geography of the region. We felt pleasure also in remembering that we ~\'ere the first who, in the traditionary annals of the c~untry, had visited the ~slands, and broken, with the cheerful sound of IIttman voices, the lotlg solItude of the place. From the point where we were standing, the ground fell. off on every side to the water, giving us a perfect view of the island, whrch is twelve or thirteen miles in circumference, being simply a rocky |