PUGET SOUND AND OKONAGAN. 451 



the loss sustained in fording the river, and in consumption, they were 

 obliged to adopt an allowance. 



On the 29th, they departed, at early dawn, in order to take 

 advantage of the firmness of the snow, occasioned by the last night's 

 frost. They ascended rapidly, and passed over the worst of the 

 way, the horses sinking no deeper than their fetlocks. They first 

 passed over a narrow ridge, and then a succession of small cones, 

 until they reached the summit. 



Mount Rainier, from the top, bore south-southwest, apparently not 

 more than ten miles distant. A profile of the mountain indicates 

 that it has a terminal crater, as well 

 as some on its flanks. The baro- 

 meter stood at 24-950 in. : five thou- 

 sand and ninety-two feet. There 

 was another, to the north-northea.st, 



' MOUNT RAINIEll. 



covered with snow, and one to the 



west appeared about two hundred feet higher than the place where 

 the observations were taken. This latter had suffered from fire in 

 the same way as La Tete, and showed only a few patches of snow. 

 To the eastward, a range of inferior height, running north and south, 

 was in view, without snow. 



On the western ascent of this mountain, the pines were scrubby; 

 but at the summit, which was a plain, about a mile in length by half 

 a mile wide, they were straight and towering, about eighty feet in 

 height, without any limbs or foliage, except at the top. The distance 

 travelled over the top was about five miles. On descending the east 

 side, the snow was much deeper, and softer, but the horses managed 

 to get along well, and without accident. 



Lieutenant Johnson, in following the party, missed the trail, and 

 lost his way for three or four hours. On discovering the camp of those 

 who had gone before, on the opposite side of a stream, he attempted 

 to cross it on a log, in doing which his foot slipped, and he was 

 precipitated into the water. Although his first thought was to save the 

 chronometer from accident, it was too late, for the watch had stopped ; 

 it was not, however, so far injured as not to be set a-going, and it 

 continued to go during the remainder of the journey : the only use 

 I have been able to make of his subsequent observations, was to 

 obtain the relative meridian distances between the points visited, 

 without the absolute longitude. It is needless to say, that I placed 

 little or no dependence on them, in constructing the map. 



