PYRAMID LAKE, NEVADA. 513 



It is but a short distance from the island to the eastern shore, where 

 Fremont camped and made the sketch which accompanies his narrative. 

 This is a favorite camping spot for the Indians while engaged in fish- 

 ing. Upon a projecting point near here there is a large cluster of very 

 perfect tufa domes. They are among the finest about the lake. Several 

 of them stand out from the others and exhibit finely their manner of 

 growth. Starting from a point upon the rocks, the mushroom-like 

 form spreads out until eight or ten feet in diameter and is then com- 

 pleted by a perfect hemispherical upper surface. 



Long before we reached the northern end of the lake our attention 

 was attracted by a long line of sharply pointed crags and islands, extend- 

 ing out more than a mile into the lake. The most of these can be 

 reached only by water, so securing a boat from an Indian, we pulled 

 across the three miles of water intervening. 



This group of tufa domes and crags is by far the most interesting of 

 any about the lake. Exceedingly picturesque is the effect as one rows 

 among them, gliding over the quiet waters, from whose clear depths rise 

 these fantastic forms. Some are low and rounded, their mammillary or 

 botryoidal surfaces made up of an aggregation of domes. Others are 

 more angular, rising sharply from the water's edge to a height of 300 

 feet. Beautiful beaches of clean sand stretch between those nearer the 

 shore, sand marked most regularly by the waves of the lake at different 

 stages, as it slowly recedes through the summer months. Upon a warm 

 summer's day when the lake glistens in the sunlight, the caves in the 

 tufa offer most inviting retreats, and the clean gently shelving beaches 

 and comfortably tempered water are irresistible. One enjoys a bath in 

 the mineral waters, but must be careful not to stay in them too long, for 

 they are so strongly impregnated with alkalies that the skin is soon af- 

 fected. 



During the high-water stages of the lake these picturesque towers 

 grew up beneath its surface from numerous warm springs carrying lime 

 in solution. Springs still issue at various places, and the tufa can be 

 observed in process of formation. It is soft and spongy, crushing under 

 one's feet as one walks over the surface, but slightly above the summer 

 level of the lake. 



These rocks, as well as those at the southern end of the lake, are the 

 resort of thousands of sea birds, many of which nest here. Pelicans, 

 sea gulls, terns, geese, ducks, etc., abound. The pelican rookeries are 

 large and particularly interesting, with the great uncouth birds swim- 

 ming about in large numbers and the downy young waddling around 

 the nests. The cavities and nooks in the tufa offer especially con- 

 venient nesting places for many of the birds. Then, too, they are sel- 

 dom molested in this remote place. 



Another interesting feature about the life of these rocks is the multi- 



VOL. LV1II.— 33 



