170 



high point on the ridge, we noticed stray clouds wandering up and 

 down the neighboring caiions, as if only waiting for us to reach the 

 top before commencing the attack. 



Seeing that it would be impossible to reach the main peak before the 

 storm would burst upon us, we made our station on the first point. The 

 main peak is 41 feet higher and a mile and a half distant, being connected 

 with it by a long unbroken ridge. Had time permitted, we should pro- 

 bably have occupied both points as stations, but we were unfortunately 

 IDrevented from doing this by the peculiar circumstances to be de- 

 scribed. Station 12, the soutliern aud lower of these two points, is 

 situated in the upper bend of Lake Fork, where, from flowing in a south- 

 easterly direction, it swings around to the east. Near the base of the 

 peak Lake Fork receives its principal tributary from the south side, 

 which on-Mr. Front's map bears the name of Snare Greek. This peak 

 is the most southerly of the red group included between Godwin 

 Creek and Lake Fork. Its height is 13,967 feet above the sea. On the 

 north aud east sides the slopes are (quite steep but regular, while on the 

 south and west the sides are very precipitous, with a fall from the sum- 

 mit to the valley below of 4,400 feet in a horizontal distance of one 

 mile. 



On arriving at the summit, Mr. Wilson hastily made a rough sketch 

 of the surrounding drainage, and then set up the instrument, wtiile I pro- 

 ceeded to make a profile sketch of the mountains south and west of us. 

 We had scarcely got started to work, when we both began to feel a ]3ecu- 

 liar tickling sensation along the roots of our hair, just at the edge of our 

 hats, caused by the electricity in the air. At first this sensation was only 

 perceptible and not at all troublesome; still its strength suprised us, 

 since the cloud causing it was yet several miles distant to the south- 

 west of us. In the early part of the storm the tension of the electricity 

 increased quite slowly, as indicated by the effect on our hair. By hold- 

 ing up our hands above our heads, a ticking sound was produced, which 

 was still louder if we held a hammer or other instrument in our hand. 

 The tickling sensation above mentioned increased quite regularly at first, 

 and presently was accompanied by a i)eculiar sound almost exactly like 

 that produced by the frying of bacon. This latter phenomenon, when 

 continued for any length of time, becomes highly monotonous and disa- 

 greeable. Although the clouds were yet distant, we saw that they were 

 fast spreading and already veiled many degrees of the horizon. As the 

 clouds approached nearer, the tension of the electricity increased more 

 rapidly, and the extent of our horizon obscured by them increased in 

 nearly the same ratio ; so that the rapid increase in the electric tension 

 marked also an increased velocity in recording angles and making 

 sketches. We felt that we could not stop, though the frying of our 

 hair became louder and more disagreeable; for certain parts of the 

 drainage of this region could not be seen from any other peak, and we 

 did not want to ascend this one a second time. 



As the force of the electricity increased more and more, and the rate 

 of increase became greater and greater, the instrument on the tripod 

 began to click like a telegraph-machine when it is made to work fast ; 

 at the same time we noticed that the pencils in our fingers made a simi- 

 lar but finer sound whenever we let them lie back so as to touch the 

 flesh of the hand between the thumb and forefinger. This sound is at 

 first nothing but a continuous series of clicks, distinctly separable 

 one from the other, but the intervals becoming less and less, till finally 

 a musical sounds results. The effect on our hair became more aud 

 more marked, till ten or fifteen minutes after its first appearance there 



