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Show [ 174 ] 200 lower peaks, clustering together in a branch ridge. These, like the great peaks, were snowy mass~s, secondary ?nly to them; .and, from the best ex. amination our time .permitted, we are 1ncilned to be.lwve ~hat the range to which they belong IS a branch ftom the great chau1 whiCh here bears to the westward. The trail during the remainder of the day followed near to the large stream on the left, which 'vas continu0usly walled in between high rocky banks. \V e halted for the night on a little by-stream. November 30.-0ur journey to-day was short. Passing over a high plain, on which were scattered cedars, with frequent beds of volcanic rock in fragments interspersed among the grassy grounds, we arrived suddenly on the verge of the steep and rocky descent to the valley of the stream we had been following, and which here ran directly across our path, emerging from the mountains on the right. You \vill remark that the country is abundantly watered with large streams, which pour down from the neigh. boring range. These streams are characterized by the narrow and chasm-like valleys in which they run, generally sunk a thousand feet below the plain. At the verge of this plain, they frequently commence in vertical precipices of basaltic rock, n.nd which leave only casual places at which they can be entered by horses. The road across the country, which would otherwise be very good, is rendered impracticable for wagons by these streams. There is another trail among the mountains, usually followed in the summer, which the snows now compelled us to avoid; and I have reason to believe that this, passing nearer the heads of these streams, would alford a much better road. At such places, the gun carriage was unlimbered, and separately descend· ed by hand. Continuing a few miles up the lett bank of the river, we encamped early in an open bottom atnong the pines, a short distance belo\va lodge of Indians. Here, along the river the bluffs present escarpments se_ven or eight h~tndrcd feet irt·height, containing strata of a very fine por~elam clay, overlaid, at the height of about five hundred feet, by a massive stratum of compact basalt one hundred feet in thickness, which again~ssucceeded above by other strata of volcanic rocks. Tho clay strata are van~usly color.ed, some of them very nearly as white as chalk, and very fine grame~. Sp~cunens brought from these have been subjected to microscopicale~ami· nat10!1 by Professor Bailey, of West Point, and arc considered by h1.m to constitute on? of the most remarkable depositos of fluviatile infusona ~n record. Wh1le the~ abound in genera and species which arc com~on m fresh w~ter, but whiCh rarely thrive where the water is even brack1sh, not one dec1dedJy tnarine form is to be found amonO' them· and their fresh· , 'Yater origi~ is therefore beyond a doubt. It is 5 cqnall}; certain that they hved and d1ed at the situation where they were found, as they could scarce· ly h~ve been transported by running waters wi~wut an admixtu~e .of san~y P~ICles; from wh~c~1, however, they arc remarkably free. Fo~sili~fuson.a of a fresh-water ongm had been previously detected by Mr. Bai~ey Ill speet: mens brought by Mr. James D. Dana from the tertiary formatwn of Ore gon. . ~ost of the species in those specimens; differed so much from those no~ h vmg ~nd known, that he was led to infer that they might belong to e.xtm~t species, an~ considered them also as affording proof of an alterna· twn, 10 the ~ormatwn from which they were obtained of fresh and salt wa~er d~posites, which, common enough in Europe, had got hitherto ~een noticed 111 the United States. Comirrg evidently from a locality euurely 201 [ 174 ] different our specimens"* show very few species in common with those brought 'by lVIr. Dana, but bear a.1nuch .closer resemblance to those inhabiting the northeastern States. It 1s posslblc that they are fron! a mor~recent dcpo itc; but the presence of.a few remarkable fonns \V~uc~l are common to the two locahties renders It more probable that there IS no great difference in their age. I obtained here a good observation of an emcrsion of the second satellite; but clouds which rapidly overspread the sky, prevented the usual number of observ;tions. Those \vhich we succeeded in obtaining are, however, good· and give for the latitude of the place 41° 35' 23", aud for the longitude from the satellite 121° 10' 25". December 1.-A short distance above our encampment, 'vc crossed this river which was thickly lined along its banks with icc. In common \Vith all these mountain streams, the w·ater was very clear, and tho current s\vift. It was not every \vhere fordable, and the \Vater was three or four feet deep at our crossing, and perhaps a hundred feet 'vide. As \Vas frequently the case at such places, one of the tnules got his pack, consist.ing ?f sugar, thoroughly wet, and turned into n1olasses. One of the gmdes mformcd me that this 'vas a "sahnon water," and pointed out several ingeniously contrived places to catch the fish; an10ng the pines in the bott01n I saw an immense one, ahout twelve feet in diameter. A steep ascent from the opposite bank delayed us again; and as, by the information of our guides, grass would soon become very scarce, we encamped on the height of land, in a marshy place among the pilles, where there was an abundance of grass. We found here a single Nez Perce family, who had a very handsome horse in their drove, which we endeavored to obtain in exchange for a good cow; but the 1nan "Had t\vo hearts," or, rather, he had one and his wife had another: she \van ted the cow, but he loved the horse too much to part with it. These people attach great value to cattle, with which they are endeavoring to supply thcmsel ves. . December 2.-In the fir~t rays of the sun, the mountain peaks this mornmg presented a beautiful appetlrance, the sno'v being entirely covered 'vith a hue of rosy gold. We travelled ts:>-day over a very stony, elevated plain, about which were scattered cedar and pine, and encamped on another large bra~ch of Fall river. We \Vere gradually ascending to a more elevate.d "'~g10n, which would have been indicated by the rapidly increasing quat?tltles of snow and ice, had we not known it by other means. A mule ·wh1ch w~s packed with our cooking utensils wandered oif among the pines unperCeived, and several men were ser1t back to search for it . . 1Jecember 3.-Lcaving Mr. Fitzpatrick with the party, I wont ahead w~th •the howitzer and a few men, in order to gain timo, as our progress Wlth the gun was necessarily slower. The country continued the samevery stony, with cedar and pine; and we rode on until dark, when we encamped on a hill side covered with snow, which we used to-nighi for water, as we were unable to reach any stream. Decembe'r 4.-0ur animals had taken the back track, although a great n8umber were hobbled; and we were consequently del~yed t~ntil noon. hortly after we had left this encampment, the mountatn trall from4tle 56 • Tho specimens obtained at thili locality arc designate~ in ~he ~ppcnui~ b~ tho Nos. ~:J, 54, 65, ' .57, 58~ 59, GO. Tho resultl:i obtained by Mr. Ba1lcy m hts cxanunatlon of spccimoos from • tboh~1.mf~sonal strata, with a plato exhibiting some of the most interesting forms, will be found iml. lled m the appendix. |