MUD LAKE. 3?0 



To the left and. far inland rises a lofty, stern-looking 

 mountain. Standing way back in the solitude by itself 

 —blue from its distance and nameless, it awakens 

 strange feelings. A wilderness probably never trodden 

 by human foot stretches away from its base, while from 

 its lonely summit spreads a view never seen by the eye 

 of man. To the right, nearly as distant and as if placed 

 there on purpose to match it, frowns a savage precipice 

 scowling across to its solitary neighbor. Between these 

 two silent monuments stretches a vast extent of natural 

 meadows, interspersed with fir-trees, standing sometimes 

 singly and sometimes in groups. But no details can 

 give you any conception of the indescribable loneliness 

 of the scene. Not a ripple disturbed the surface of the 

 lake, or indeed could disturb it ; not a sound broke the 

 stillness, not a bird or water-fowl enlivened the desola- 

 tion. A single fish-hawk or eagle, lazily sailing far away 

 across the heavens, only made the solitude more com- 

 plete. I never saw guides so affected by mere scenery 

 before. It was evidently as new to them as to me; in 

 fact more so, for they had never even imagined anything 



like it. 



After dinner I resolved to take John and go on an 

 expedition of my own. We had explored the adjacent 



