164 JOHN C. FREMONT. 



carried out the law of this country, where all ani- 

 mated nature seems at war, and, seizing him imme- 

 diately, put him in at least a fit place, in the leaves 

 of a large book, among the flowers we had collected 

 on our way The barometer stood at 18.293, the 

 attached thermometer at 44 ; giving for the eleva- 

 tion of this summit thirteen thousand five hundred 

 and seventy feet above the Gulf of Mexico, which 

 may be called the highest flight of the bee. It is 

 certainly the highest known flight of that insect. 

 From the description given by Mackenzie of the 

 mountains where he crossed them, with that of a 

 French officer still farther to the north, and Colonel 

 Long's measurements to the south, joined to the 

 opinion of the oldest traders of the country, it ia 

 presumed that this is the highest peak of the Rocky 

 Mountains. The day was sunny and bright, but a 

 slight shining mist hung over the lower plains, 

 which interfered with our view of the surrounding 

 country. On one side we overlooked innumerable 

 lakes and streams, the spring of the Colorado of 

 the Gulf of California, and on the other was the 

 Wind River Valley, where were the heads of the 

 Yellowstone branch of the Missouri ; far to the 

 north, we just could discover the snowy heads of the 

 Trois Tetons, where were the source of the Missouri 

 and Columbia Rivers ; and at the southern extremity 



