124 CAMP FIRE REMINISCENCES 
suggested his nationality, and I found that he had 
navigated these waters for years, and was very 
well up on the points of interest. Like all bodies 
of water occurring in mountainous countries, Great 
Salt Lake is subject to sudden and violent storms, 
and the waves of dense water lashed up by these, 
can rapidly bring destruction to the frail craft 
found around the resorts. The Cambria was a 
twin boat and well built; the deck which connected 
the two halves was about a foot above the water, the 
keels were two or three feet lower than the deck, and 
the cabins along each side were about three feet 
above it. She had a good spread of canvas and a 
petrol engine, with twin screws. The engine was 
open to the weather and stood rather aft of mid- 
ships. On the whole, one could not have selected a 
safer looking craft than this—the largest vessel 
upon America’s Dead Sea. 
Daggett, Young and myself chartered this boat 
for a few days’ cruise, and as everything depended 
upon the weather, we looked forward anxiously to | 
a certain afternoon in May when we were to start 
from Saltair. The country between the city and 
the lake is flat and arid. At first sagebrush and 
grease wood relieve the eye, but as the lake is 
neared, the vegetation becomes sparse; areas of 
bare surface appearing, whitened with an alkaline 
crust, and presenting a scene of absolute desola- 
tion. Saltair is the principal resort upon the 
shores of the lake, and was interesting to us only 
as a point of departure. There lay the boat, and 
not the faintest zephyr stirred the surface of the 
