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Show [ 17~ J 156 hill on which there is neither water nor trees of any kind; although the Fr~montia vermicular;a, which was in great abundance, might easily be mistaken for timber nt a Jistance. 11he plant seemed here to delight in a congenial air ~rowing in extraordinary luxuriance seven to eight feet hrcrh and was very, 'a bund{mt on the upper parts of . t l1 e a. s Ja n d , w h ere it was tal l-' most the only plant. This is emfnently a saline shrub ; its leaves have a very salt taste; and it luxuriates in saline ~oils, \Vhere it is usually a characooristic. It is widely diffllsed over all this countr·y. A ehenopodiaceou·s shrub, which is a new species of OBIONE, ( 0. rip,ida, Torr."~ F'rern ,) was equally characteristic of the lower parts of the island. These two are the striking plants on the island, and belong to a class of plants which for·m a prominent feature in the vegetation of this country. On the lower parts of the.island) also, a prickly pe.ar of very large size was frequent. On the shore, near· the wAter, wa~ a woolly species of phaca ). and a new species of um. belliferons plant ( leptotamia) was scattered about in very considprable abundance. These constituted all the vegetation that now appeared upon the island. I accklentnlly left on ~the summit the brass cover to the object end of my spy glass; and as it will ·probably remain there undisturbed by Jndiuns, it will furnish mat£cr· of speculation to some future traveller. Jn our excursi. oos about the island, we did not meet with any kind of animal; a mag• p1e, and another Jarger bird, probably attracted by the smoke of our fire, paid us a visit fl'om th~ sh.ore~ and wer~ the only living things seen during our stay. !he rook const1tutwg the cliffs along the shor·e where we were encamped, 1s a talcous rock, or stealite, with brown spar. . At suns~t,, the te.mperature was 709 • We had arrived just in time to ob· talfl a tnend1an altitude of tbe sun, and other observations were obtained this, evtming, which place our camp in latitude 41° I 0' 42", and longitude 112° 21' 05'' frorno Gt·eenwich. From a discussion of th~ barometrical observations mAde during ou·r· stay on the shores of the lake we have adopted 41~00 feet for its elevation above the gulf of Mexico. 'In the first dis~rp· pomtment we felt from the dissipation of our dream of the fertile islands I called tijs Disappointment island. ' Oot of the drift wood, .we ~ade ourselves pleasant little lodges, open to the wa.~er, and, after hnvmg ktndled large fires to excite the wonder of any stragglthg savage on the lake shores lay down for the first time in a Ion~ • . , ' ''0 ~ourney, Jn perfect secur·ity; no one thinking about his arms. The even· mg wns extremely bright and pleasant; but the wind rose d nring the night, and the waves began to break heavily on the shore makina our island tremble. l had not expected in our inland journey t~ hear the roar of an 1cea.n· surf; and. the s.trangeness of our situation, and the excitement ~ve el.t 10. the ~ssocaated In~erests of the place, made this one of the most Ill· tel estmg ntghts I remember during our Ion()' expedition. In the morning, the surf was breakinrr heavily· on the shore and we ware up ear 1Y • 'rh e 1a k e was dark and ba aitated and we hurried' througu1. ou.r scanty br ea k"ra s t , an d embarked-havinOb ' first ' filled one of the buc ke ts wtthh wat~r from the lake, of which it was ;:,itHende<l to make salt. The sun ad nsen by the time we were ready to start· and it was blowing a strong gale of wind 1 d · ' 'd 1...1 . ' a most trectly off the shore and raising a cont:!l er· all' e' sea ' 1 n wht.c h our . bo at strat· ned very much. ' Jt rou<rhened as we go t awa~ fl'om th~ rsland, and it required all the efforts of the men to make any ead agamst the wind and sea; the gale ri~ing with the sun, and theie 157 [ 174 ] was dan~cr of bei~g bl?wn ~nto one of tiJe open reache beyond the island. At the .dtstance ot haiJ a rntle from the beach, the depth of \Vater was It> feet, With a ci:'Y bottom ; bu.t, as ~he working of the boat was very severe lu~or, Hnd. dunn ~ the oper ataon of rou?ding it was necc 'ary to cease paddling, dunng wh1 ch the boat lost constderable way, l wa unwillin~ to tliscoura~ e the men, and reluctantly gave up my intention of ascertaining the depth, and the character of the bed. There wns a ooe ncra I ~hout in the boat when we founJ our eh'os in one fathom, and we soon afttr JanJed on a low point uf mud, irnmcdiatel1 under the butte of the peninsula, where '."e unloaded lhe boat, a~1d earned the haggoge about a quarter of a mile to firm~r ~round. We arnved jut in time for merit1ian ou e rvation, and earned the barometer to the summit of the butte, which is 500 feet :1bove th~ lak~. 1\lr. Pr~u set oif on foot for the camp, whieh was about nine rmlcs d1stant; Ba. II accompanying him, to bring back horses for the boat and baggage. 'fhe ruu~-lookin;.; shelter we raised. on th~ shore, onr sen tiered baggage an.d bont ly,wg on the beach? r.nade qutte a p1cture; and we calleJ thi · the Ftshennan s cwnJJ . . L?Jnos·Lns graveolens, and nnoth<'r new species of omoNE, (0. conlertdolta-Torr. lr :Pren1. ) were crrowin'r on the low d 'l' ·) , ~ ~ groun s, WJt 1 Inte rspersed .. pots of an unwhole ome salt grass, on a saline clay soil, with a few other plants. . The hor~s anived ~ate in the afternoon, by which tirnP. the gale had mcrcased to :~ uch a he1ght that a mnn coulJ scarcely stand before it; and we were obl1 ged to pack our bagg:~ge hastily, as the risitl ,)' wn ter of the lake hnd alre<Hly reached the poillt where we were halted . t"lLookin,r back ?s \ore rode o.tr, we found th~ place of recent encampment entirely co~erecl . fhe low plam tbrou~h winch we rode to the ctuup was covered wilh a compact growth of shrubs of extraordinary size nntl luxuriance. The soil was sandy and saline; flat placrs, resemblin~ rhe beds of ponds, that were bare of vegetation, and covered with a powdery white salts, being interspersed among the shrubs. Artemisia tridentata was vcr y abundant but the p~a~ts wcr~ principally saline; a large and vicrorons chenopod iac~on sha:ub, hve to e1ght feet high, being characte risti c, with Fremontia verrniculans, and a shrubby plant which seems to be a new salicornia. \.V e reached the camp in time to esC' ape a thunder storm which bl ackenc d the sky a rHl were received \\ ith a discharge of the howitzer by the peOj)IC' who ha'vin'r bc en ~mau\, 1e to see any thing of us on the lake, had begun ' to fee' l somne uneasmess. September 11 .-To-day we 1 emained at this camp, in order to obtain some furth cr ob;3ervations, and to boil down the water w!J ich had been ~r.·oup;ht from the lake, for a supply of salt. Roughly evaporated over the auned, the fi\'e gallons of water yielded fourteen J'int s of vcr"· fine-1rraineJ v ery w1 l l· te sa 1 J o t, of which the whole lake may be regarded as a saturat- ~d sol~tion ... A p~rtion of the salt thus obtained has been subjected to nalysts-gt vmg, m 100 parts, the following proportions : Analysis of I he salt. Chlor~de of sodium, (common salt) Chlonde of calcium Cloride of magnesium 97.80 0.61 0.24 |