rd having the appearance
of a sparrow. 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 (_bombus terrestris_, the humble bee) came winging his
flight from the eastern valley, and lit on the knee of one of the men.

"'Around us, the whole scene had one main striking feature, which was
that of terrible convulsion. Parallel to its length, the ridge was
split into chasms and fissures, between which rose the thin, lofty
walls, terminated with slender minarets and columns, which are
correctly represented in the view from the camp on Island Lake.
According to the barometer, the little crest of the wall on which
we stood was three thousand five hundred and seventy feet above that
place, and two thousand seven hundred and eighty above the little
lakes at the bottom, immediately at our feet. Our camp at the Two
Hills (an astronomical station) bore south 3 deg. east, which, with a
bearing afterward obtained from a fixed position, enabled us to locate
the peak. The bearing of the _Trois Tetons_ was north 50 deg. west, and
the direction of the central ridge of the Wind River Mountains south
39 deg. east. The summit rock was gneiss, succeeded by sienitic gneiss.
Sienite and feldspar succeeded in our descent to the snow line, where
we found a feldspathic granite. I had remarked that the noise produced
by the explosion of our pistols had the usual degree of loudness,
but was not in the least prolonged, expiring almost instantaneously.
Having now made what observations our means afforded, we proceeded
to descend. We had accomplished an object of laudable ambition,
and beyond the strict order of our instructions. We had climbed the
loftiest peak of the Rocky Mountains, and looked down upon the snow
a thousand feet below, and, standing where never human foot had stood
before, felt the exultation of first explorers. It was about two
o'clock when we left the summit; and when we reached the bottom, the
sun had already sunk behind the wall, and the day was drawing to a
close. It would have been pleasant to have lingered here and on the
summit longer; but we hurried away as rapidly as the ground would
permit, for it was an object to regain our party a