6KANDUES JkXD LOTELOIEM. 2fid 



fcy the flutterings of countless water-fowls which beskimmed the crjital 

 biBe or rode npon its surface. 



No sound disturbed the stillness of its solitude, save tliat of my own 

 footateps Gommingling with the incessant chatter of aquatic birds. In 

 solemn grandeur it lay before the eye a desert of waters, bounded upon 

 three sides by the curving horizon, while from the fourth a beautiful ex- 

 panse of verdancy smiled upon its solitude. 



The island with its lone mountain, of which I have spoken in a former 

 chapter, arose in full view, apparently a short distance to the southwest. 

 It was a grand and imposing spectacle, and I much regretted the impossi- 

 bihty of reaching it. Its giant piles of naked rock and sun-baked clay, 

 seemed scanningthe surrounding waves, to smile upon their soft blandish- 

 ments or frown at their rudeness. 



But the Island, the Lake, and the country contiguous, have been fully 

 described in former pages, which of right precludes a further notice at thii 

 time. 



On resuming our coarse we continued up Bear river to tlie famous minh 

 eral springs, — thence bearing a northwesterly direction, we arrived at Fort 

 Hail late in the afternoon of Nov. 9th. 



The route from Uintah to this point presents many interesting localitiei 

 gome of which call for more tlian a mere passing notice. That situate 

 upon Green river, known as Brown's-hole,* coming first in order, seems 

 to assert a merited precedence. 



Descending by a steep, difficult pass from the west, fifty miles north of 

 Ashley's Fork, the ti'avelier is ushered into a beautiful valley, some fifteen 

 miles long by ten broad, shut in upon all sides by impassable mountains 



• This locality has received the soubriquet of Bro^vn*s-hoIe from the following cir- 

 Burastance : 



Some six or seven years since, a trapper, by tiie name of Bro\vTi, came to it in the 

 fell season for tiie purpose of himiing in its vicinity. During his stay a fell of enow 

 closed the passes so effectually, he was forced to remain tili the succeeding spring 

 before he could esca}^>e from liis lonely prison. 



It was formerly a favorite resort for the Snake Indians, on accoimt of its exhaust- 

 less stores of game and wild fruits, as well as its security from the approach of ene> 

 mies. 



I^OTK.- "Taking latitude 42'^ north as the northern boundai7 between Oregon and 

 California, these iritert stiiig regions of country are embraced within tlie limits of the lat- 

 ter; but taking the hearl-waters of the Arkansas as the true point, and thence, by a 

 Une running due west to the Pacific, nearly the whole of it will be found within the 

 United Stales. 



Thd treaty with Spain in 1819, defining this bomidary, which was subsequently 

 confirmed by Mexico,, after noting Red river as the northern boundary of its eastern 

 province.^, to longitude 100° west from Greenwich, and thenc* north to the Arkansaa, 

 uses the following words : , 



" Thence, follow uig the course of the south bank of the Arkansas to its soub.cs« 

 in latitude 42'^ north, thence by that parallel of latitude to the South Sea." 



If the source of the Arkansas, by its south bank, is in lat. 42° north, then the mat- 

 ter of boundary admits of no question ; but if it is not in that parallel of latitude, 

 ibould the latter be regarded as the true boundary, when it is evident, from the words 

 ftf the treaty that the soiu-ce of the Arkansas 6y its south bank, was the intended 



