BIVOUAC ON DOLPHIN ISLAND. 189 



out. — The Jordan was over its banks from the melting of the 

 snows in the mountains. 



Thursday^ May 24. — Having laid in all the necessary supplies, 

 we returned to the island to-day, killed a beef, and made all pre- 

 parations for an early start next day. 



The range for cattle on this island is now very fine, and the 

 herd appears in excellent condition. The drove of Indian horses, 

 which had suffered much from the hard winter at Fort Bridger, 

 begins to improve, and many of them are very handsome animals. 



Monday, May 28. — Owing to head winds and heavy blows upon 

 the lake, we have been constantly occupied for the last four days 

 in endeavouring to reach our companions on the salt-plains of the 

 western shore — a place which the men had, not inappropriately, 

 distinguished by the title of "Tophet." An hour before sundown 

 we descried the smoke of their camp-fires near a small island on 

 the west coast, called Dolphin Island, and shaped our course ac- 

 cordingly. When it became dark, we made out the camp-fire 

 itself, and hoisted a signal-lanter^i to let them know that fresh 

 beef, vegetables, and water were near at hand. 



At two in the morning we landed, or rather grounded, near 

 "what we supposed to be the sand-flat of the main land, north of 

 the island, and apparently some half-mile from the camp. The 

 moon was shining bright and clear, and, anchoring the boat, lest 

 she should drift off before morning, we shouldered our blankets, a 

 keg or two of water, and some pieces of fresh beef, and commenced 

 our tramp for the encampment. Reaching the shore, we trudged 

 on with bare feet for about a mile, over sharp incrustations of salt 

 and sand, when we most unexpectedly came again to water. 

 Judging it to be a mere pool or washing up of the lake, we disre- 

 garded so petty an impediment, and continued plodding our weary 

 way through it for about a mile farther, when, finding that it began 

 to grow deeper and deeper, it being then nearly up to the waist, 

 we returned to the flats, and, kindling a fire of sage-brush, lay 

 down upon the sand until daylight. The night was uncomfortably 

 chilly, and a single blanket was but a sorry protection against the 

 cold, damp sand and the searching winds from the neighbouring 

 mountains. 



Tuesday^ May 28. — A little after sunrise, we perceived some 

 of the shore party approaching in the skiff; and we now found that, 

 instead of landing last night, as we had supposed, on the main, we had 

 struck a wide sand-flat extending northward from the island, had 



