160 JOHN C. FREMONT. 



main peak. Our mules 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 pos- 

 sible, 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 occa- 

 sional 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 

 fivers. We soon had the satisfaction to find our- 

 selves 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 two thousand to three thousand feet 

 above our heads in a serrated line of broken, jagged 

 cones. We rode on until we came almost imme- 

 diately 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 of 

 perhaps a thousand yards in diameter, and appa- 

 rently very deep. These lay in a kind of chasm, 

 and, according to the barometer, we had attained 



