nothing either of the height, the number or the variety of those peaks, covered with eternal snows, ,vh1ch rear their heads with menacing aspect to the heavens. Nor will I speak of the many streams descending from them and changing their course with unexpected suddenness; nor of the extreme rarification of the air with the consequent effect upon objects susceptible of contraction, at so great an elevation. All this is common; but to the glory of the Lord, I must commemorate the imperious necessity I experienced of tracing his holy name upon a rock, which towered pre eminent amid the grandeur around. 1NIay that ever-adorable name be to travelers a monument of our gratitude, and a pledge of salvation!
Henceforth we descended toward the Pacific-first by following, then by crossing the Little and the Big Sandy rivers. In the vicinity of the latter, as the captain had mistaken one road for another, the caravan wandered for three days at random. I myself, on a fine evening, strayed
from the rest. I thought myself entirely lost; how was I to act? I did what every sincere believer would have done in the same circumstances, I prayed; and then urging on my horse, I traveled several miles, when it struck me that it would be prudent to retrace my steps. I did so instantly, and it was fortunate, for the caravan was far behind. I found it encamped; still ignorant however of its position, and on a soil so arid that our jaded beasts were necessitated to fast for the night. Days follow, but resemble not each other; two days subsequently, we were surrounded with abundance, filled with joy, all once more united, and on the banks of a river not less celebrated among the hunters of the West than the shores of the Platte. This river loses itself not far below, in clefts of rocks said to be no less than aoo miles in extent, among which there are countless swarms of beavers, although the trapper has never ventured to hunt them, on account of the extreme peril of the enterprise.
At a certain period of the year, both trappers and Indians flock to this spot, for the purpose of bartering all kinds of