424 PUGET SOUND AND OKONAGAN. 



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 advan- 

 tage 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 

 thousand and ninety-two feet. 

 There was another, to the north- 

 mount rainier. northeast, 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 precipi- 

 tated into the water. Although his first thought was to save the chro- 

 nometer 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 con- 

 tinued 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. 



Although the horses had, with one or two exceptions, reached the 

 eastern side of the mountain, yet they, together with the Indians, were 



