[128] Rays of light, falling with any degree of obliquity upon the particles of that portion of watery vapour which lies near the surface of the earth, may be reflected, and pass off at an equal corresponding angle; so that if the eye be raised a few feet above the reflecting surface, an image of the corresponding arc of the sky is produced, as in the case of a sheet of water where the image, seen by the reflected light, is not that of the water, but the sky. Hence any object, which obstructs the rays of light in their passage from the parts of the atmosphere beyond the reflecting surface to that surface, is returned to the eye in a darkened image as from water.—James.
[129] The party mistook this "highest peak" for Pike's Peak. This mountain, called by the French trappers Les deux Oreilles (Two Ears), is the one now known as Long's Peak, being named for Major S. H. Long, the leader of our party. Frémont found in 1842 that this name had been adopted by the traders, and had become familiar in the country. The elevation of Long's Peak is 14,271 feet, exceeding that of Pike's Peak by one hundred and twenty-four feet.—Ed.
[130] At this point it becomes difficult to follow exactly the movements of the party, as the nomenclature of the region has in the interim changed almost entirely. Moreover, the itinerary is carelessly recorded and the map of the expedition is inaccurate. The journey of twenty-seven miles on July 1, reckoned from the camp of June 30, near the Bijeau, as shown on the map, brought the party nearly to the Cache la Poudre River, which flows from the northwest, reaching the South Platte below the bend where its course turns eastward. Cache la Poudre is shown but not named on the map, which, apparently erring, places the camp of July 1 and 2 above its mouth; for it is evidently the first of the large creeks passed on the third. At the bend is Thompson Creek, also unnamed on Long's map; and just above is St. Vrain Creek. Both of these flow from the west and the latter evidently corresponds to Potera's Creek of the text. The bend in the river, passed July 3, is the point of nearest approach to Long's Peak, still forty miles distant. Near the camp of that evening, at the mouth of St. Vrain's Creek, the important fur-trading firm of Bent and St. Vrain built St. Vrain's Fort about twenty years later. In favorable weather, Pike's Peak is visible from this point.—Ed.
[131] Populus angustifolia, J.—James.
[132] Other plants were collected about this encampment, among which we distinguished an interesting species of ranunculus, having a flower somewhat larger than that of R. fluviatilis with which it grows, often extending, however, to some distance about the margins of the pools in which it is principally found. R. amphibius; slender, floating or decumbent, leaves reniform, four or five lobed, divisions cuneate, oblong, margin crenate, petioles long and alternate. The submersed leaves are, in every respect, similar to the floating ones. Pentstemon erianthera, N., Poa quinquefida, Potentilla anserina, Scrophularia lanceolata, Myosotis glomerata, N.? &c. were also seen here.—James.
[133] Crotalus tergeminus, S.—Body dusky cinereous, a triple series of deep brown spots; beneath with a double series of black spots.
Body pale cinereous brown, a triple series of fuscous spots, dorsal series consisting of about forty-two large, transversely oblong-oval spots, each widely emarginate before, and obsoletely edged with whitish lateral series, spots transversely oval, opposite to those of back; between the dorsal and lateral series is a series of obsolete, fuliginous spots, alternating those of the two other series; head above with nine plates on the anterior part, on which are a band and about three spots, two undulated vittæ terminating and confluent with the first spot of the neck, a black vittæ passes through the eye, and terminates on the neck each side; beneath white, a double irregular series of black spots, more confused towards the tail; tail above, with five or six fuscous fasciæ, beneath white irrorate with black points, six terminal plates bifid.
| Length | 2 ft. 2⅛ in. |
| tail | 2⅛ in. |
| Plates of body | 151 |
| of tail | 19 |
| Bifid plates at tip | 6 |
Another specimen, much smaller, Pl. 152. subcaudal, 20. scales at tip 3.—James.
[134] The journey of July 4, and the ten miles travelled on the fifth, would carry the party thirty-five or forty miles up the river from the mouth of St. Vrain's Creek; this would, for their camp of the fifth, bring them near the site of Denver. Vermillion Creek, which was crossed early on the sixth, is evidently Cherry Creek, which flows through the present city.—Ed.