breakfast, we set out immediately.

On every side, as we advanced, was heard the roar of waters, and of a
torrent, which we followed up a short distance, until it expanded into a
lake about one mile in length. On the northern side of the lake was a bank
of ice, or rather of snow covered with a crust of ice. Carson had been our
guide into the mountains, and, agreeably to his advice, we left this
little valley, and took to the ridges again, which we found extremely
broken, and where we were again involved among precipices. Here were ice-
fields; among which we were all dispersed, seeking each the best path to
ascend the peak. Mr. Preuss attempted to walk along the upper edge of one
of these fields, which sloped away at an angle of about twenty degrees;
but his feet slipped from under him, and he went plunging down the plain.
A few hundred feet below, at the bottom, were some fragments of sharp
rock, on which he landed; and, though he turned a couple of somersets,
fortunately received no injury beyond a few bruises. Two of the men,
Clement Lambert and Descoteaux, had been taken ill, and lay down on the
rocks, a short distance below; and at this point I was attacked with
headache and giddiness, accompanied by vomiting, as on the day before.
Finding myself unable to proceed, I sent the barometer over to Mr. Preuss,
who was in a gap two or three hundred yards distant, desiring him to reach
the peak if possible, and take an observation there. He found himself
unable to proceed further in that direction, and took an observation,
where the barometer stood at 19.401; attached thermometer 50 deg., in the gap.
Carson, who had gone over to him, succeeded in reaching one of the snowy
summits of the main ridge, whence he saw the peak towards which all our
efforts had been directed, towering eight or ten hundred feet into the air
above him. In the mean time, finding myself grow rather worse than better,
and doubtful how far my strength would carry me, I sent Basil Lajeunesse,
with four men, back to the place where the mules had been left.