FIRST APPROACH TO THE MOUNTAIN, 1833 



on the N. side, terminate in Mt. Rainier, a short dis- 

 tance to E. Collected a vasculum of plants at the 

 snow, and having examined and packed them shall 

 turn in. Thermometer at base, 54 deg., at summit of 

 ascent, 47 deg. 



Sept. 3. Woody islet on Poyallip. It rained 

 heavily during night, but about dawn the wind shift- 

 ing to the N. E. dispersed the clouds and frost set in. 

 Lay shivering all night and roused my swarthy com- 

 panions twice to rekindle the fire. At sunrise, ac- 

 companied by Quilliliash, went to the summit and 

 found the tempr. of the air 3 3 deg. The snow was span- 

 gled and sparkled brightly in the bright sunshine. It 

 was crisp and only yielded a couple of inches to the 

 pressure of foot in walking. Mt. Rainier appeared 

 surpassingly splendid and magnificent ; it bore, from 

 the peak on which I stood, S. S. E., and was separated 

 from it only by a narrow glen, whose sides, however, 

 were formed by inaccessible precipices. Got all my 

 bearings more correctly to-day, the atmosphere being 

 clear and every object distinctly perceived. The 

 river flows at first in a northerly direction from the 

 mountain. The snow on the summit of the mountain 

 adjoining Rainier on western side of Poyallip is con- 

 tinuous with that of latter, and thus the S. Western 

 aspect of Rainier seemed the most accessible. By 

 ascending the first mountain through a gully in its 

 northern side, you reach the eternal snow of Rainier, 

 and for a long distance afterwards the ascent is very 

 gradual, but then it becomes abrupt from the sugar- 

 loaf form assumed by the mountain. Its eastern side 

 is steep on its northern aspect ; a few glaciers were seen 

 on the conical portion ; below that the mountain is 

 composed of bare rock, apparently volcanic, which 

 about 50 yards in breadth reaches from the snow to 

 the valley beneath and is bounded on each side by bold 

 bluff crags scantily covered with stunted pines. Its 

 surface is generally smooth, but here and there raised 



