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Show 184 WESTERN SHORE OF THE LAKE. purpose of encamping. But the mirage was so great that we found ourselves much deceived in the distance. Instead of half a mile, the bushes were more than two miles off; and after travelling upward of a mile, I concluded to encamp where we were, and to go to the fringe of green for wood enough to cook with. This was accordingly done, and in our search we stumbled on two very pretty little streams of fresh, cool water, within a half- mile of the camp, but which, after flowing a short distance, sank in the sand and disappeared. Upon the banks of one of the creeks was a patch of long, dry, matted grass, which had been beaten down by the winter snows. To this I set fire, as a signal to the shore party of our whereabouts. A huge column of smoke immediately rose to the heavens, and completely answered the purpose. The party, nevertheless, did not get into camp before ten o'clock at night, having been perplexed in the dark by salt creeks and marshes. There was but little joking or music in camp to- night, as the unwearied fiddle had been left in the boat, and the men were thoroughly tired out. The shore party, to- day, in running their line, crossed several quite large streams of good freshwater; and upon the termination of the day's work, came upon one, eighty feet wide and ten feet deep, by measurement, and flowing with a full current. All of these spring- branches burst forth on the old storm- line of the lake, but none of them ever enter it. They doubtless take their rise in the mountains to the north and north- west, and percolating through the sands, or passing in veins underneath the surface, break forth suddenly into bold streams, with abundance of water, which in a short distance fork and spread out into shallow channels, form a sort of marsh, and are finally altogether absorbed by the sand, long before they reach the lake. In the channels, and on the margin of the streams, grow reeds, dagger- grass, and some cattail flags. Numerous insects congregate in the brackish waters of the marshes, affording food for plover, gulls, and innumerable waterfowl. These streams afforded the last fresh water that we found on the western shore of the lake. Friday, May 17.- Moved camp, taking with us in the boats the shore party, who wished to be landed south of the marshes and mud- flats they had waded through yesterday. The flat where we landed was six miles wide, and covered, in many places, with salt. The nearest wood was at a point of bluff which bounded the plain to the westward. Transporting fuel on men's shoulders, this dis- |