Ascending the steep slope of the final peak, their climbing irons were of the greatest assistance. They found to their dismay after climbing a few hundred feet that the upper part of _the peak was not of snow, but of hard, blue ice, covered with a thin layer of snow. Every step they took had to be cut through the snow into the ice. The ice was too hard for the steel points of the climbing irons to penetrate until it had been prepared by a stroke or two of the ax._ The Alpine guide said the work of step cutting was far more fatiguing than he had ever experienced in Switzerland. One of the Sepoys was overtaken by mountain sickness and had to be left behind. Now and then a puff of air inspired the party with a little life. Most of the time they suffered from the rarefication of the air. Reaching the top, about 23,000 feet above the sea, Conway named the mountain Pioneer Point. He saw the most glorious views on every side. The whole panorama of valley, mountain, glacier, and snow has an effect, at an elevation, of majestic repose. The observers were far above the noises of avalanches and rivers and nature’s forces were reduced to mere insignificance as they gazed thousands of feet below them upon the scenery. Many of the mountains they saw had not before been seen by human eye. ANOTHER GULF STREAM FROM SAME SOURCE. In many respects the North Pacific ocean resembles the North Atlantic. A great warm current, much like the Gulf Stream, and of equal magnitude, called the Black Stream, or Japan current, runs northward along the eastern shore of Asia. Close to the east coast of Japan it flows through a marine valley which holds the deepest water in the world. It was sounded at a depth of 5¼ miles by the United States steamer Tuscaroa in 1875, while surveying for a projected cable route between the United States and Japan. The heavy sounding weight took more than an hour to sink to the bottom. But trial was made of a chasm yet more profound, where the lead did not fetch it up at all. It is the only depth of ocean that remains unfathomed.--_San Francisco Examiner._ * * * * * At the head of Onion Valley, in Inyo County, Cal., are two abrupt mountains, one 13,000 and the other 14,000 feet high. Tumbling down the side of one is a cataract 500 feet high, which in the distance resembles falling snow, and two other waterfalls of equal height are visible from the head of the valley. THE LAKE ON THE MOUNTAIN. MR. DRUMMOND THINKS HE HAS FOUND WHERE ITS WATERS COME FROM.