MOUNT RAINIER 



camp, which evidently came from the nearest snow. 

 We finally followed the main stream, which very soon 

 turned in toward the mountain, the valley growing 

 narrower, the torrent more and more rapid, and our 

 progress slower and slower, especially when we were 

 compelled to take to the timber. We often crossed 

 the torrent, of which the water was intensely cold, in 

 order to avoid the obstructions of the forest. Some- 

 times, however, the stream was impassable, and then 

 we often became so entangled in the thickets as almost 

 to despair of farther advance. Early in the evening we 

 reached the foot of an immense glacier and camped. 

 For several miles before camping the bed of the stream 

 was paved with white granite bowlders, and the mountain 

 gorge became narrower and narrower. The walls were 

 in many places perpendicular precipices, thousands of 

 feet high, their summits hid in the clouds. Vast piles 

 of snow were to be seen along the stream the remains 

 of avalanches for earth, trees, and rocks were inter- 

 mingled with the snow. 



As it was near night we camped, thinking it best to 

 begin the ascent in the early morning ; besides, the 

 weather promised to become worse. The foliage of 

 the pine-trees here was very dense, and on such a 

 cloudy day it was dark as night in the forest. The 

 limbs of the trees drooped upon the ground, a disposi- 

 tion evidently given to them by the snow, which must 

 be late in disappearing in this region. 



We followed thus far the main branch of the Nes- 

 qually, and here it emerged from an icy cavern at the 

 foot of an immense glacier. The ice itself was of a 

 dark-blue tinge. The water was white, and when- 

 ever I waded the torrent my shoes filled with gravel 

 and sand. The walls of this immense mountain gorge 

 were white granite, and, just where the glacier termi- 

 nated, the immense vein of granite that was visible 

 on both sides seemed to form a narrow throat to the 

 great ravine, which is much wider both above and 



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