Page:Columbus and other heroes of American discovery; (IA columbusotherher00bell).pdf/267

 On the 10th December, a lake, to which the name of Tlamath was given, was discovered; and on the 14th a stream was struck, which Fremont, from astronomical observations taken, concluded to be the principal branch of the Sacramento. He now hoped to find an opening in the mountains through which he could reach the districts explored in the early part of his trip; but in this he was unsuccessful. Three weeks of exhausting wandering brought the weary travelers to another remarkable mountain lake, to which, on account of a tapering rock rising from its center, the name of Pyramid was given.

TEMPLE BLOCK, SALT LAKE CITY.

While the indefatigable hero was ascertaining the exact position of the newly-found sheet of water, a few half-naked Indians, speaking a dialect of the Snake language, made their appearance, and said they lived in the rocks hard by, and that there was a river at the end of the lake. Cheered by being again in a country where human beings could live, Fremont led his party round the lake to the so-called river, and found it to be merely a fresh-water stream flowing into, not out of, the Pyramid. This at once convinced him that he had discovered, not the head-waters of any river, but a vast interior lake without outlet.

The last of the cattle brought for provisions for the party had been killed