120 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



mountain could be found. They ascended to the very summit 

 of one of the highest peaks, above the snow and the reach of ve- 

 getation, and the only prospect which they had beyond, was a 

 confused mass of huge angular rocks, over which even a wild goat 

 could scarcely have made his way. Although they utterly failed in 

 the object of their exploration, yet they were so fortunate as to 

 kill a buffalo, (the buffalo,) the meat of which they brought on 

 their horses. 



Wyeth told us of a narrow escape he had while travelling on 

 foot near the summit of one of the peaks. He was walking on a 

 ridge which sloped from the top at an angle of about forty de- 

 grees, and terminated, at its lower part, in a perpendicular preci- 

 pice of a thousand or twelve hundred feet. He was movino- 

 along in the snow cautiously, near the lower edge, in order to 

 attain a more level spot beyond, when his feet slipped and he 

 fell. Before he could attempt to fix himself firmly, he slid down 

 the declivity till within a few feet of the frightful precipice. At 

 the instant of his fall, he had the presence of mind to plant the 

 rifle which he held in one hand, and his knife which he drew 

 from the scabbard with the other, into the snow, and as he almost 

 tottered on the verge, he succeeded in checking himself, and hold- 

 ing his body perfectly still. He then gradually moved, first the 

 rifle and then the knife, backward up the slanting hill behind him, 

 and fixing them firmly, drew up his body parallel to them. In 

 this way he moved slowly and surely until he had gained his 

 former station, when, without further difficulty, he succeeded in 

 reaching the more level land. 



After a good breakfast, we packed our horses, and struck back 

 on our trail of yesterday, in order to try another valley which 

 we observed bearing parallel with this, at about three miles dis- 

 tant, and which we conclude must of course furnish a pass 

 through the mountain. Although our difficulties in returning by 

 the same wretched route were very considerable, yet they were 



