330 Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains. 
hard gray sandstone we had observed all along the base of the 
mountains on the east side, no granite showing itself anywhere. 
Heavy dark clouds were gathering rapidly, and the louder 
and louder rumblings of thunder war rned us of an approaching 
storm. We had descended but a few yards of the great western 
slope when the tempest broke with all its violence, and we were 
wet to the skin in a few moments; my own abiliments were 
from waterproof, being simp! y a flannel shirt, a pair of 
leather trowsers, with a striped cotton shirt over all. e de- 
scent was very steep, the horses having in some places difficulty 
in keeping their legs, although the path was zig-zag; and the 
continual descending on foot was very trying to the legs. After 
some distance, however, the descent became less steep, and we 
continued our course for a couple of hours before coming to any 
place fit forcamping. Although camping in the woods is always 
- to be avoided with horses, we were at length induced to halt 
from the appearance of some old skeletons of Indian lodges, not 
knowing how far we might have to travel before coming to any 
_ place; and we camped, for the first time, in a Columbian 
ores 
The change in the vegetation was first made evident to me on 
descending the mountain, by the appearance of a beautiful and 
regularly formed cedar, which for the sake of remembering the — 
, I then called the “Columbian Cedar.” It flourished at an 
altitude of about 5000 feet, and I subsequently observed it a8 
low as 8000, but I feel doubtful as to whether it descends to the 
Tobacco Plains. Besides this I found, to me, a new Abies some- 
thing like the Balsam Fir of the Atlantic slope, but with a rough 
and su 
