286 Flora of the Olympics. [ZOE 
2,300 feet above the sea. These same surroundings in the Cascade 
Range would have given us an altitude of not less than 6,000 feet. 
- Here, after a three weeks handling of saw, axe, pick and shovel, 
and not having received a scratch or bruise the whole time, I in- 
flicted a severe cut upon my wrist while cutting fir boughs for the 
beds, and was rendered immediately a “useless member’? for days 
tocome. To addto my disgust, and that of our ‘‘ advance work- 
ing gang,” word was brought us from Camp 6 that the explorers 
had returned and announced the fact that farther progress along our 
present line was not only impracticable but even impossible, and 
that we must return to the lower camp and explore for a northerly 
trail. The evening of the 3oth saw us all reassembled in Camp 6, 
not however, before I had collected at the former camp a few more 
plants. These consisted almost entirely of mosses, lichens and 
fungi; but the berries of the several huckleberries were just ripe 
enough for good collecting, and the sweet flowers of the white 
azalea were here seen for the first time this season, in full bloom. A 
forced rest for the next two days was a necessity for the party, as 
the Lieutenant had been compelled to go to Hoodsport for sup- 
plies and to learn of our photographer, who had not yet put in his 
appearance, though this had been promised for several weeks. This 
rest would have been appreciated by me in my present useless con- 
dition, if I had not been constantly annoyed by the thought that the 
time at my disposal was oozing rapidly away. The Lieutenant re- 
turned on the evening of the 31st, and plans were immediately — 
formed to send out three more parties on the succeeding day. 
From ‘Camp 4’’ a party consisting of our naturalist, Mr. Brether- 
ton, and our engineer, Mr. Church, had been sent out by the Lieu- 
tenant over the divide to the south, with instructions to explore 
and carefully to map out the South Fork of the Skohomish River, 
the longer and possibly the larger fork of the main river, and which 
joins the one that flows out of Lake Cushman a few miles west of 
Union City and the Canal. They had now been gone since the 18th, 
and as they had taken only five days’ rations, we began to feel un- 
easy about them. I was to learn the cause of their long absence a 
few days later. 
The morning of the first of August broke dark and gloomy. The 
scouts were divided into three parties, and were told not to return 
till they severally found the route taken by them either utterly im- 
