ces a state of exultation that to
some must seem almost too strong to endure. The mountains, which rise
high above, stretch also far below, and in every direction are at their
very best. Proud and regal in their strength and bearing, they are
still, from summit to the depths, heavily covered with the primeval
forest. It would seem as if they really knew what a view was here
unfolded, and to rejoice in the grandeur of the scene. Like a thread,
you can trace the turns and lines of the road along which the stage has
come. But that which adds the softer, more beautiful element to a
picture otherwise almost overpowering in its grandeur, and withal stern
and unyielding, is seen through a break or portal off to the south.

Far away, far below, lies a portion of Shoshone Lake. Like a sleeping
babe in its mother's lap, nestles this tiny lakelet babe in the
mountains. It shines like a plate of silver or beautiful mirror. It is a
gem worth crossing a continent to see, especially as there runs between
the lake and the point of view a little valley dressed in bright, grassy
green as a kind of foreground in the rear. There is thus a silvered
lake, a lovely valley, with bright and warm green shades, and rich,
dark-black forests in the rear. No one can gaze upon such a combination
and contrast without being impressed, and without recognizing the
sublime beauty and grandeur of the park and its surroundings.

Yellowstone Lake is another of the extraordinary attractions of our
great National Park. It is described as the highest inland sea in the
world, and more than 7,000 feet above the sea level. It is, really,
nearly 8,000 feet above the sea, and its icy cold water covers an area
some thirty miles in length and about half as wide or about 300 square
miles. This glorious inland ocean is perched up at the summit of the
Rocky Mountains, just where no one would expect to find it. Several
islands of varying sizes are dotted over the surface of the water, which
at times is as smooth as a little mill pond, and at others almost as
turbulent as the sea. The shores are entirely irregular in their
formation, and Promontory Point extends out into the water a great
distance, forming one of the most peculiar inland peninsulas in the
entire world. Along the southern shore, inlets and bays are very
numerous, some of them natural in character, and others full of evidence
of brisk, and even terrific, volcanic action.

From the peculiar rocks and eminen