182 MY LIFE 



entered the house and ate whatever we gave them without 

 any fear. The miners are fond of these little creatures as we 

 are of robins, and thus they become quite pets about houses 

 in the wilds where they abound. In the evening we made 

 our way to the cabin, said to be the highest house in the 

 States (about thirteen thousand feet), where it freezes at 

 night nearly all the year round. Some of Mr. West's men 

 had brought up stores, the house being used for prospecting 

 purposes and trial-workings. They made us quite welcome, 

 and we had supper together. 



The next morning we walked up to the top of Gray's Peak 

 (14,340 feet), one of the highest in the Rocky Mountains. On 

 this side the ascent w r as very easy, over grassy slopes inter- 

 spersed with streams of loose stone fragments, everywhere 

 dotted with interesting alpine plants. The summit was a 

 nearly level plateau, with precipices on the northwest, and 

 with a magnificent view all round, only limited by the yellow 

 haze which cuts off the horizon. We had, however, a view of 

 the celebrated Holy Cross mountain, about thirty-five miles to 

 the south-west, below the summit of which some deep gorges 

 preserve perpetual snow in the shape of a cross. Over an 

 area of about three hundred miles from north to south, and 

 two hundred from east to west, there are said to be over 

 thirty summits which reach fourteen thousand feet, and many 

 more above thirteen thousand — a clear indication of this whole 

 region having been once a nearly level plateau, which, during 

 the process of elevation, has been cut into innumerable valleys 

 and canons by sub-aerial denudation. This is the more re- 

 markable, as the geological structure of the region is very 

 Complex, consisting of ancient rocks, and has probably once 

 been covered by the secondary and tertiary deposits which 

 now everywhere surround it, as illustrated by the belt of 

 triassic sandstone of the Garden of the Gods. 



We luxuriated here in plants which were altogether new 

 to me. By the side of the road up were great clumps of the 

 common Silene acaulis, embedded in which were little tufts 

 of the exquisite blue Omphalodes nana, var. aretioides, closely 

 allied to a rare alpine species. In damp, shady spots was a 



