505.)
From "Report of an Exploring Expedition."
=_270._= ASCENT OF A PEAK OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
We continued climbing, and in a short time reached the crest. I sprang
upon the summit, and another step would have precipitated me into an
immense snow field five hundred feet below. To the edge of this field
was a sheer icy precipice; and then, with a gradual fall, the field
sloped off for about a mile, until it struck the foot of another lower
ridge. I stood on a narrow crest, about three feet in width, with an
inclination of about 20 deg. N., 51 deg. E. As soon as I had gratified the first
feelings of curiosity, I descended, and each man ascended in his
turn; for I would only allow one at a time to mount the unstable and
precarious slab, which it seemed a breath would hurl into the abyss
below. We mounted the barometer in the snow of the summit, and fixing a
ramrod in a crevice, unfurled the national flag to wave in the breeze,
where never flag waved before. During our morning's ascent, we had met
no sign of animal life, except the small sparrow-like bird already
mentioned. A stillness the most profound, and a terrible solitude forced
themselves constantly on the mind, as the great features of the place.
Here, on the summit, where the stillness was absolute, unbroken by any
sound, and the solitude complete, we thought ourselves beyond the region
of animated life; but while we were sitting on the rock, a solitary bee
(_bromus_, the bumble bee) came winging his flight from the eastern
valley, and lit on the knee of one of the men.
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