had been refreshed by the fine grass in the little ravine at the Island
camp, and we intended to ride up the defile as far as possible, in order
to husband our strength for the main ascent. Though this was a fine
passage, still it was a defile of the most rugged mountains known, and we
had many a rough and steep slippery place to cross before reaching the
end. In this place the sun rarely shone; snow lay along the border of the
small stream which flowed through it, and occasional icy passages made the
footing of the mules very insecure, and the rocks and ground were moist
with the trickling waters in this spring of mighty rivers. We soon had the
satisfaction to find ourselves riding along the huge wall which forms the
central summits of the chain. There at last it rose by our sides, a nearly
perpendicular wall of granite, terminating 2,000 to 3,000 feet above our
heads in a serrated line of broken, jagged cones. We rode on until we came
almost immediately below the main peak, which I denominated the Snow peak,
as it exhibited more snow to the eye than any of the neighboring summits.
Here were three small lakes of a green color, each, perhaps, of a thousand
yards in diameter, and apparently very deep. These lay in a kind of chasm;
and, according to the barometer, we had attained but a few hundred feet
above the Island lake. The barometer here stood at 20.450, attached
thermometer 70 deg..

We managed to get our mules up to a little bench about a hundred feet
above the lakes, where there was a patch of good grass, and turned them
loose to graze. During our rough ride to this place, they had exhibited a
wonderful surefootedness. Parts of the defile were filled with angular,
sharp fragments of rock, three or four and eight or ten feet cube; and
among these they had worked their way, leaping from one narrow point to
another, rarely making a false step, and giving us no occasion to
dismount. Having divested ourselves of every unnecessary encumbrance, we
commenced the ascent. This time, like experienced travelers, we did not