Having Descended, And
While Crossing It, I Saw Two Horses Grazing:
I immediately
hid myself in the long grass, and began to reconnoitre; but
as I could see no signs of Indians I proceeded cautiously on
my second ascent.
It was late in the day, and this part of
the mountain, like the other, was steep and rugged. I was
on the top of the second peak by two o'clock, but got there
with extreme difficulty; every twenty yards I had the cramp
in the upper part of both thighs, so that I was afraid I
should not have been able to have got down again. It was
also necessary to return by another road, as it was out of
the question to pass over the saddle-back. I was therefore
obliged to give up the two higher peaks. Their altitude was
but little greater, and every purpose of geology had been
answered; so that the attempt was not worth the hazard
of any further exertion. I presume the cause of the cramp
was the great change in the kind of muscular action, from
that of hard riding to that of still harder climbing. It is
a lesson worth remembering, as in some cases it might cause
much difficulty.
I have already said the mountain is composed of white
quartz rock, and with it a little glossy clay-slate is
associated. At the height of a few hundred feet above the plain
patches of conglomerate adhered in several places to the
solid rock.
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