MOUNTAINS OF TBE LAHONTAN LEGION. 39 



1,000 feet of the highest summits. When seen from the eastern shore of 

 the lake, this girdle of vegetation appears like a dusky cloud-band encir- 

 <'ling the mountain; above which rise the bare and rugged peaks forming 

 the crest of the range. Besides the coniferous trees the mountain mahogany 

 and the cottonwood are common in some portions of the old lake basin. 

 The former grows in the canons and ravines of the mountains, while the 

 latter is found mostly along the streams, whose courses it renders conspic- 

 uous by deep green foliage in summer, and the brilliant yellow of ripened 

 leaves in autumn. 



With the few exceptions we have mentioned, the mountains of the La- 

 liontan basin are desert ranges, frequently brilliant in color, and present a 

 diversity of tiiits that are astonishing to one reared beneath more humid 

 skies, but lacking in the shades and shadows that vegetation alone can im- 

 part. In this region the mountains are nearly all of volcanic rocks, among 

 which the deeply colored rhyolites are conspicuous. Still more diversified 

 are the purple trachytes of many hues, and volcanic tuffs that vary through 

 all shades and tints, from a pure white to a deep, luminous red. In con- 

 trast with these harlequin colors are sombre mountains and rugged cliffs of 

 basalt, sometimes veiled and partially buried beneath dunes of soft, creamy 

 sand. The traveler over the Carson and Colorado Railroad, while passing 

 along the eastern shore of Walker Lake, cannot fail to be impressed with 

 the gorgeous coloring of the rhyolite hills boi'dering the valley on the east, 

 especially if his journey be made in the deepening twilight, when the splen- 

 dor of the. western sky is rivalled by the brilliant coloring of the silent and 

 lifeless mountains. The West Humboldt Mountains, bordering Humboldt 

 Lake on the east, are also remarkable for the great variety of beautiful tints 

 that are inherent in the rhyolite ^ and tuffs composing the range. The abso- 

 lutely desert mountains stretching northward from Black Rock Point, and 

 known as the Black Rock Mountains, are so gorgeous and varied in color 

 that irhey merit the name of the Chameleon Hills. The nearly parallel 

 range to the west of these mountains has been called the "Harlequin Hills," 

 by Mr. Webster. The aptness of the name will no doubt be appreciated by 

 every one who has seen those naked towers and domes of rhyolite and tuff 

 at sun rise or at sunset, when their glories are fully revealed. 



