GRANDUER AND LOVELINESS. 203 



ftrU^ ^ ^^ il ^ a ^^^ W ^ I r ~ * 



by the flutterings of countless water-fowls which beskimmed the crystal 

 blue or rode ujjon its surface. 



No sound disturbed the stillness of its solitude, save that of my own 

 footsteps commingling with the incessant chatter of aquatic birds. In 

 solemn grandeur it lay before the eye a desert of waters, bounded upon 

 three sides by the curving horizon, while from the fourth a beautiful ex- 

 panse of verdancy smiled upon its solitude. 



The island with its lone mountain, of which I have spoken in a former 

 chapter, arose in full view, apparently a short distance to the southwest. 

 It was a grand and imposing spectacle, and I much regretted the impossi- 

 bility of reaching it. Its giant piles of naked rock and sun-baked clay, 

 seemed scanning the surrounding waves, to smile upon their soft blandish- 

 ments or frown at their rudeness. 



But the Island, the Lake, and the country contiguous, have been fully 

 described in former pages, which of right precludes a further notice at this 

 time. 



On resuming our course we continued up Bear river to the famous min- 

 eral springs, — thence bearing a northwesterly direction, we arrived at Fort 

 Hall late in the afternoon of Nov. 9th. 



The route from Uintah to this point presents many interesting localities 

 some of which call for more than a mere passing notice. That siiuate 

 upon Green river, known as Brown's-hole,* coming first in order, seems 

 to assert a merited precedence. 



Descending by a steep, difficult pass from the west, fifty miles north of 

 Ashley's Fork, the traveller is ushered into a beautiful valley, some fifteen 

 miles long by ten broad, shut in upon all sides by impassable mountains 



* This locality has received the soubriquet of Brown 's-hole from the following cir- 

 cumstance : 



Some six or seven years since, a trapper, by the name of Brown, came to it in the 

 fall season for the purpose of hunting in its vicinity. During his stay a I'all of snow 

 closed the passes so effectually, he was forced to remain tUl the succeeding spring 

 before he could escape from his lonely prison. 



Jt was formerly a favorite resort for the Snake Indians, on account of its exhaust- 

 less stores of game and wild fruits, as ■^ell as its security from the approach of ene- 

 mies. 



Note. — Taking latitude 42° north as the northern boundary between Oregon and 

 California, these interesting regions of country are embraced within the limits of the lat- 

 ter ; but taking the head-waters of the Arkansas as the true point, and thence, by a 

 line running due west to the Pacific, nearly the whole of it will be found ^^ ithin iha 

 United States. 



The treaty with Spain in 1819, defining this boundary, which was subsequently 

 confirmed by Mexico, after noting Red river as the northern boundary of its eastern 

 provinces, to longitude 100^ west from Greenwich, and thence north to the Arkansas, 

 uses the following words : 



" Thence, followmg the course of the south bank of the Arkansas to its source, 

 in latitude 42*^ north, thence by that parallel of latitude to the South Sea." 



If the source of the Arkansas, by its south bank, is in lat. 42° north, then the mat- 

 ter of boundary admits of no question ; but if it is not in that parallel of latitude, 

 ehould the latter be regarded as the true boundary, when it is evident, from the words 

 of the treaty that the source of the Arkansas by its south bank, was the mtended 



18 



