

THE LAKE. 



141 



several times, until at last we joined him; he 

 had also discovered a large rock, under the lee 

 of which we unloaded, and then lighted our 

 fire, and fettered the horses to feed. We soon 

 found, that to cook any victuals was impossible, 

 for the w r ind scattered our fire, which was only 

 formed of the branches of the small shrubs and 

 briars that grow upon these plains. Water we 

 had by accident, as the guide had brought a 

 .small skin of it, in case he should be thirsty 

 during the afternoon, for we had made ourselves 

 quite certain of reaching the lake by night. I 

 slept upon two of our packages, under the lee 

 of the rock, and the whole party did the same, 

 sharing, as equally as possible, our scanty means 

 of accommodation. This afternoon I had seen 

 many rocks of remarkable forms ; one particu- 

 larly struck me as extraordinary : it was placed 

 upon another, of much smaller dimensions, and 

 the resting-point was so small, as to render its 

 removal apparently easy ; but, on trial, it had 

 not the slightest motion. The discomfort of 

 this night was great, caused chiefly by the vio- 

 lence of the wind ; we had, at last, no fire, — 

 all was dark around us, and we could scarcely 

 make ourselves heard. The horses seemed to 

 feel, as much as we did, the unsheltered situa- 

 tion ; they were near to us during the whole of 

 the night. 



On continuing our journey the following 



