58 STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



Captain Fremont, in his Report, p. 274, "we had snowy peaks 

 always in view ; we had surmounted the Rocky Mountains by the 

 South Pass at an elevation of 7027 (7490 E.) feet, but we found 

 the passes of the Maritime Alps, which are divided into several 

 parallel ranges, more than 2000 feet higher;" therefore, only about 

 1170 feet (1247 E.) below the summit of Etna. It is extremely 

 remarkable, and reminds us of the difference between the eastern 

 and western Cordilleras of Chili, that it is only the chain of mount- 

 ains nearest to the sea (the Californian range), which has still 

 active volcanoes. The conical mountains of Reguier and St. Helen's 

 are seen to emit smoke almost constantly, and on the 23d of No- 

 vember, 1843, Mount St. Helen's sent forth a quantity of ashes 

 which covered the banks of the Columbia for forty miles like snow. 

 To the volcanic Coast Range also belong, (in Russian America in 

 the high north,) Mount St. Elias (1980 toises high, according to 

 La Perouse, and 2792 toises, according to Malaspina (12,660 and 

 17,850 E. feet), and Mount Fair Weather (Cerro de Buen Tempo) 

 2304 toises, or 14,732 E. feet high. Both these mountains are 

 supposed to be still active volcanoes. Fremont's Expedition (which 

 was important alike for its botanical and geological results), collected 

 volcanic products, such as scoriaceous basalt, trachyte, and even obsi- 

 dian, in the Rocky Mountains, and found an extinct volcanic crater a 

 little to the east of Fort Hall (lat. 43 2', long. 112 28' W.); but 

 there are no signs of volcanoes still active, that is to say, emitting at 

 times lava or ashes. We are not to confound with such activity the 

 still imperfectly explained phenomenon of " smoking hills;" "cdtes 

 brulees," or " terrains ardens," as they are called by the English set- 

 tlers, and by natives speaking French. An accurate observer, M. 

 Nicollet, says, "Ranges of low conical hills are covered with a thick 

 black smoke almost periodically, and often for two or three years toge- 

 ther. No flames are seen." This phenomenon shows itself principally 

 in the district of the Upper Missouri, and still nearer to the eastern de- 

 clivity of the Rocky Mountains, where a river bears the native name 

 of Mankizitah-Watpa, or the "river of the smoking earth." Sco- 

 riaceous pseudo-volcanic products, such as a kind of porcelain jasper, 

 are found in the vicinity of the " smoking hills." Since the expe- 

 dition of Lewis and Clark, an opinion has become prevalent that the 



