Of the old world. 403 



make straight for it, and then gave chase. It was 

 no easy work to scramble up the rocky slope ; but 

 at last we got upon his trail, and soon found gouts 

 of blood which, although not sufficient to lead me to 

 suppose that he was mortally wounded, proved that 

 my shots, even at that long range, had taken effect. 

 As the trail diverged considerably from our route, 

 we gave up the pursuit ; and, after halting a short 

 time to cook a meal, by a beautiful stream gushing 

 out of the live rock, the water of which was so cold 

 that it gave me a violent toothache, again pushed 

 forward. 



After a weary march and much slipping and 

 scrambling over most difficult ground, we ascended 

 from a ravine to an elevated ridge covered with 

 stunted grass, along which we travelled ten or 

 twelve miles, enjoying a magnificent prospect on 

 each hand of apparently boundless ranges of snow- 

 capped mountains and interminable forest. An in- 

 expressible feeling of silent contemplation and awe 

 seemed to pervade the entire company, as we rode 

 along for miles without exchanging an observation ; 

 indeed, the solemn silence of uninvaded nature gave 

 birth to strange emotions bordering on fear, which 

 seemed inexplicable, considering the scenes that each 

 and every one of my party had gone through. 



From this we ascended a ridge of high rocks, in 

 some places covered with low scrub, where we en- 

 camped for the night, as we found some difficulty 

 in crossing a mountain-torrent that came tumbling 



