y to a
further advance. I availed myself of a sort of comb of the mountain,
which stood against the wall like a buttress, and which the wind and
the solar radiation, joined to the steepness of the smooth rock, had
kept almost entirely free from snow. Up this I made my way rapidly.
Our cautious method of advancing in the outset had spared my strength;
and, with the exception of a slight disposition to headache, I felt
no remains of yesterday's illness. In a few minutes we reached a point
where the buttress was overhanging, and there was no other way of
surmounting the difficulty than by passing around one side of it,
which was the face of a vertical precipice of several hundred feet.'

"_Parfleche_ is the name given to buffalo hide. The Indian women
prepare it by scraping and drying. It is exceedingly tough and hard,
and receives its name from the circumstance that it cannot be pierced
by arrows or spears. The entire dress of Fremont and his party, on
their ascent to the 'top of America,' consisted of a blue flannel
shirt, free and open at the neck, the collar turning down over a black
silk handkerchief tied loosely, blue cloth pantaloons, a slouched
broad-brimmed hat, and moccasins as above described. It was well
adapted to climbing--quite light, and at the same time warm, and every
way comfortable.

"'Putting hands and feet in the crevices between the blocks, I
succeeded in getting over it, and, when I reached the top, found my
companions in a small valley below. Descending to them, 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
met no sign of animal life, except a small bi