Rocky Mountains and Oregon. 201 
situation. We close this notice with Captain Frémont’s remarks 
on Pyramid Lake, a short distance only from the Boiling springs 
just noticed. Ascending the mountain by a broad pass they 
reached the summit, beyond which— 
“A defile between the mountains descended rapidly about two thou- 
sand feet; and, filling up all the lower space, was a sheet of green 
water some twenty miles broad. It broke upon our eyes like the 
e 
one of them to obtain a better view. The waves were curling in the 
breeze, and their dark-green color showed it to be a body of deep wa- 
ter. Fora long time we sat enjoying the view, for we had become fa- 
tigued with mountains, and the free west of moving waves was ve- 
ry grateful. It was set like a gem in the mountains, which, from our 
position, seemed to enclose it date one At the western end it 
communicated with the line of basins we had left a few days since ; 
and on the opposite side it swept a vide eo se snowy mountains, the foot 
of the great Sierra. — Its position at first eremee us to believe it Mary’s 
lake, but the rugged mountains were so entirely discordant with de- 
Scriptions of its low rushy shores and opens ountry, that we concluded 
and oe on a little stream at the mouth of the defile, about a mile 
from the m argin of the water, to which we hurried down immediately. 
The water is so sli ghtly salt, that, at first, we thought it fresh, and 
would be pleasant to drink when no other could be had. The shore 
was rocky—a handsome beach, which reminded us of the sea. 
arge granite boulders that were scattered about the shore, I re- 
marked a coating of a calcareous substance, in some places a few inch- 
es and in others a foot in thickness. Near our camp, the hills, which 
were of primitive rock, were also covered with this substance, which 
Was in too great quantity on the mountains along the shore of the lake 
to have been deposited by water, sue has the appearance of having 
been Spread over the rocks in mass. 
eS next day, we followed again a broad Indian trail along the 
shore of the lake to the southward. Fora short space we had roont 
enough in the bottom ; but, after travelling a short distance, the water 
yin the foot of precipitous mountains, the peaks of which are about 
3,000 feet ative the lake. The trail wonnd along the base of these 
prec early im- 
practicable for the howitzer. During a greater atk of the morning 
the lake was nearly hid by a snow storm, and the waves broke on the 
Stier eet 
The label attached to a specimen of this rock was lost; sg I append an anal- 
oa of abet which, from POOL, I andes to be shane 
Carbonate of fu me, ; 77-31 
Carbonate of : : ‘ 5:25 
on as magnesia, . 146) 
Alumina, ” . : : : : : 1:05 
Sili tea, ‘ . . . 8-55 
Organic matter, water, and loss, . . 6:24 
100-00 
Srconp Srnizs, Vol. III, No. 8.—March, 1847. 26 
