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Show 232 The day "as p<'rfcctly clear, and, while the sun was in the ky, warm .md plea ·ant. By ob~ervatJ.O n, our l at!.t u d e wa. ..L> } 8" •j ~)' l)G'' . I 1 . b -'J ....; ; anu c cvnt10n, · y the oilin,r point, 7,-100 fc •t. . .,. . . l ('ebnwnJ G.-1\ccompamed by 1\Ir. [• ttzpatnck, [ sat out to-day wtth a reconnoitri·n~ parly, o~1 now hoes. \V,c m~rched all in sing.le ~le, tramplinn · the snow a, heanly as we could. Crossing the open basm, 111 a march of ~bout ten mile · we reached the top of one of the peaks, to the left of the pass indicated by our guide. Far beloYv us, dimmed by the distance, was a large no\v Ic ~s valley, bouudcd on the \\-estern side at the di, tance of about a hundred mile·, by a low ranp;c or mountains, which Carson rcc0gni ·ed with delight as the mountain ~ bordering the coast. '' There," 'aid he. "is th<' little mountain-it i' 15 yeat · ago ince I aw it; but I am j u · t as u 1 e n · if [ had seen it r e ~ t c r day . " B e t we~ n u , t h c n, and this 10\ co< ' t ranp;e, "as the valloy of the Sa ramen to; and no one who had not accompanied us throuo·h the incidents of our life for the last few months could rea lize tbe delight with which at la t we looked down upon it. At the distaJHC of apparently 30 miles beyond us were distintruishecl spots of prairi ; and a d,t.'k line, which could he traced with the gla · , was imagined to be thL: course of the river· but '"c were c,·idently at a great height above the valley, and bet\.\ cen u' and the plain cxt<'nded miles of snowy fields :tnd broken ridges of pine-covered rnountain ·. It was late in the day when we turned to \\ ards the camp; and it grew rapidly cold as it drew towards niu·ht. One of the men became fatigued, and hi. f t began to freeze, and, building a f1re in the trunk of a dry old ecdar, 1\Ir. Fitzpatrick remained with him until hi' clothes could be drierl, and l1e was in a condition to come on. "\fter a day's march of 20 miles, w stra~crlcd into camp, one after another, at ni~bt t:1ll; the greater nurn· her cxcc~sively iatigued, only two of the party having ever travelled on now shoe~ before. All our energie , were now directed to gcttinrr our animals across the sno\\.; .and it was upposed that, after allth.c ba~gatre had been drawn with the !:llcrgh over the trail we had made, it would be ufficiently hard to bear ~ur animal . ,\.t ereral place , betwcrn til is point and the ridge, we bad dtsco~ 'red ome gra sy spot·, where the wind and sun had dispersed the snow from the sides of the hill ~, and the c , ·ere to form re ~ ting places to support the animal~ for a night in their pa ~ :1ge across. On our way acres ? we had se t on fire several broken stumps and dried trees, to melt holes ll1 the snO\\r for the camps. Its generaL depth was 5 feet· but we passe.d over place, where it \¥a 20 fret deep, a~ shown by the trees. \Vtt!1 one y:u ty dra\\ ing Ie!ghs loaded with baggage, I advanced to·day about tour mdes a ton rr the trail, and en cam ocd at the fir ·t crT a sy , pot, where we. exp etc~ to bri~g our horse . ~lr. Fitzpatrick, with another part,r, re· mat~eu b hmd, to form an intermediate ' tltion bet\\·een us and the anuna.ls. J• ebruary 8.-'Thc nirrht has been extremely· cold · but 1) r fectly sttll, .and be au t'1f "u l l Y lea r. B<"" efore the un appeat cd thi ' morrn• ng, the t he r·· mometer wa go below zero; 1 o hirrh r ,, hen his rays struck the lofty peaks; and 0" when they reached o~r c;mp. . . Scenery and weather, combined, mu t r endcr these mountain ~ beauttful 1 ~1 summer; the purity and deep-blue color of the ... ky are ingularly beau· hful?, the days are sunny anrl briaht, and vcn warm in the noon hours; and 11 we could be free from the many anxieties that oppress us, even now |