districts, but they
only knew their own trails and roads and had as yet not had time
to carry on any unnecessary examinations away from the lines they
travelled. Some of our experiences were interesting, but I have not the
space here for recording many of them. It was my first winter out
of doors, and sleeping in snow-storms and all kinds of weather was a
novelty, though the climate is fine and dry. It was only in the higher
regions that we encountered much snow, yet the temperature in the
valleys was quite cold enough. In leading the open-air life from summer
to winter and to summer again, the system becomes adjusted, and one does
not suffer as much as at first glance would seem probable; in fact, one
suffers very little if any, provided there are plenty of good food and
warm clothing.

On one occasion, when we were coming away from a snowy experience in
the Uinkaret Mountains, we were enveloped in a severe flurry one morning
soon after starting. When we had gone about a mile and a half, the whole
world seemed to terminate. The air was dense with the fast-falling,
snowflakes, and all beyond a certain line was white fog, up, down, and
sideways. A halt was imperative, as we knew not which way to turn except
back, and that was not our direction. Descending from our horses we
stepped out in the direction of the illimitable whiteness, only to find
that there was nothing there to travel on. The only thing to do was to
camp, which we did forthwith. By our holding up a blanket at the four
corners, and chopping some dry wood out of the side of a dead tree, Andy
was able to a start a fire, and we waited for atmospheric developments.
Presently there were rifts in the white, and as we looked we could
discern, far, far below our position, another land. As the storm broke
away more and more, it was seen that we had arrived at the edge of a
cliff with a sheer drop of one thousand feet. At last we were able to go
on and hunted for a way to descend, which we did not find. Consequently
we continued northwards and finally, on the second day, met with a
waggon-track which we followed, reaching at last the edge where the
cliff could be descended by way of a waggon-road the Mormons had cut
out of the face for a mile and a quarter. This was the Hurricane Ledge,
which extends across the country northwards from the Uinkaret Mountains
to the Virgen River. Its course is well seen on the map opposite page
41, and also on the one on page 37. As th