At eleven in the forenoon we at last scaled the highest point after excessive toil and stood on a wide snow field, which sloped down on the east to a hollow, behind which other snow mountains rose, and in the extreme distance the sky formed the background. To the south rose the white peaks of our saddle, above which extended the two mighty crests of the Bighorn. The bluish cold colour of these enormous snow domes contrasted with the warm reddish tint of the mountains and the sunlit landscape below them, and the icy peaks dazzled our eyes when we looked up at them. Before us in the west stretched out a scene which I cannot find words to describe faithfully. To the right and left on the sides of the snowy mountains which formed a semicircle we saw a sea of hills and rocks in the most eccentric shape; above them rose to an immense height the various peaks vividly illumined by the sun, and between them lay the dark shadows of the mighty glens, which were enclosed by precipices. Only rarely did the living green of foliage peep out of the desolate scene, which was slightly enlivened by the more frequent clumps of pines, and the straying glance gladly rested on the isolated patches of grass, whose fresh juicy green imparted a warmth to the landscape. At our feet we gazed at the depths, till our eyes rested on the snow-white wondrous outline of the precipices which surrounded Old Park on this side, and we followed the silvery ribbon of water that wound through it. Old Park lay like a narrow glen before us, lost in the mist and often crossed by ranges that connected the eastern and western ranges. Far away in the misty distance, above the mountain chain that borders Old Park on the west, our eyes rested on the enormous plains which sink from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, and in the extreme distance their outlines became blended with the sky. They seemed to be crossed by but few ranges; to the south-west we could distinguish lower chains of hills, while in the west and north-west a long dark cloud was visible, which indicated to us the snowy mountains or maritime Alps of California. So far as we could see, this country appeared to us but slightly wooded and not very well watered. The course of the Rio Colorado was alone marked by lower ranges of hills and the hue of the vegetation.