36 Expedition to the 



the march by day, and until nine o'clock in the evening it 

 was the duty of one of the three Frenchmen, to reconnoitre 

 at a distance from camp in every direction, and to report im- 

 mediately when any thing should be discovered, indicating 

 that Indians were in the vicinity. Precautions of this kind 

 are highly necessary to prevent surprisal, and are invariably 

 practised by the Indians of the west, both at their villages 

 and on their march. 



On the 14th, Lieutenant Swift returned to camp, having 

 performed the duties on which he was sent. 



A base was measured near the camp, and observations 

 taken for ascertaining the elevation of the Peak. These are 

 detailed in the appendix to this volume, and in Major Long's 

 report, may be seen an account of the method used to esti- 

 mate the actual elevation of the point at which these obser- 

 vations were made. The entire elevation of the Peak above 

 the level of the ocean, ascertained in the manner there de- 

 scribed, is eleven thousand live hundred feet. 



Complete sets of observations for latitude and longitude 

 were taken, which gave 38° 18' 9" north, and 105° 39' 49" 

 Avest from Greenwich, or 28° 39' 45" from Washington, as 

 the position of our camp. The bearing of the Peak from this 

 point is north, 67° west, and the distance about twenty-five 

 miles. 



In all the prairie-dog villages we had passed, small owls 

 had been observed moving briskly about, but they had hi- 

 therto eluded all our attempts to take them. One was here 

 caught, and on examination found to be the species denomi- 

 nated Coquimbo, or burrowing owl, (Strix cunicularia.) 



This fellow citizen of the prairie dog, unlike its grave and 

 recluse congeners, is of a social disposition, and does not 

 retire from the light of the sun, but endures the strongest 

 mid-day glare of that luminary, and is in all respects a diur- 

 nal bird. It stands high upon its legs, and flies with the 

 rapidity of the hawk. The Coquimbo owl, both in Chili and 



