Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/428

422 422 JOURNAL AND LETTERS OF DAVID DOUGLAS. cow, and having- dressed the meat, we took a part, and left the rest hanging on the bushes. We passed to the left of the lowest extinct volcano, and again encamped on the same peak as the preceding night. It was long after dark before the men arrived, and as this place afforded no wood, we had -to make a fire, of the leaves and dead stems of the species of Composite mentioned before, and which, together with a small Juncux, grows higher up the mountain than any other plant. The great difference .produced on vegetation by the agitated and vol- canic state of this mountain, is very distinctly marked. Here there is no line between the Phenogamous and Cryptogamous Plants, but the limits of vegetation itself are defined with the greatest exactness,, and the species do not gradually diminish in number and stature, as is generally the case on such high elevations. The line of what may be called the Woody country, the upper verge of which the barometer expresses 21.450 inch.; therm. 46 at two P. M., is where we immediately enter on a region of broken and uneven ground, with here and there lumps of lava, rising above the general declivity to a height of three to four hundred feet, intersected by deep chasms, which show the course of the lava when in a state of fluidity. This portion of the mountain is highly picturesque and sub- lime. Three kinds of timber, of small growth, are scattered over the low knolls, with one species of Rubus and Yaccinium, the genus Ffd- yaria and a few Graminece, Filices, and some Alpine species. . This re- gion extends to bar. 20.620 inch.; air 40, dew-point 30. There is a third region which reaches to the place where we encamped yester- day, and seems to be the great rise or spring of the Iava 3 the upper part of which, at the foot of the first extinct peak, is bar. 2 '.010 inch.; air 39. At six o'clock the next morning, accompanied by three Islanders and two Americans, I started for the summit of the mountain : bar. at that hour indicated 20.000 inch., therm. 24, hygr. 20. A keen West wind was blowing off the mountain, which was felt severely by us all, and especially by the natives, whom it was necessary to protect with additional blankets and great-coats. We passed over about five miles of gentle ascent, consisting of large blocks of lava, sand, scoriae, and ashes, of every size, shape, and colour, demonstrating all the grada- tions of calcination, from the mildest to the most intense. This may be termed the Table Land or Platform, where spring the great vent- holes of the subterranean fire, or numerous volcanos. The general appearance is that of the channel of an immense river, heaved up. In some places the round boulders of lava are so regularly placed, and the sand is so washed in around them, as to give the appearance of a causeway, while in others, the lava seems to have run like a stream. We commenced the ascent of the Great Peak at nine o'clock, on the N, E. side, over a ridge of tremendously rugged lava, four hundred