very willingly accepted, feeling that in my present condition, a comfortable bunk would be preferable to the turf at our claimed with the poet-deviating slightly in the application: Nature never made but one such duck, camp. Taking a little turn over the And broke the die (or certainly ought so to have reservoir in search of a duck that they had been told was hovering about itand which we found, but did not succeed in killing-my companions landed me at the cabin, and then returned to camp. At dusk Mr. C. returned again, to remain with me, bringing my rifle, and being determined, he said, to capture the duck in the morning. done,) in getting this one up. On the following morning, I rolled out from my blankets, feeling much better, when preparations were made for an immediate start, and as the sun peeped over the eastern ridge, we were again, en route. A little distance from our camp, we struck into the old Emigrant road of 1852, bearing due East, and immediately commenced the ascent of the first ridge. Four miles of constant rise, brought us to what are known as Bill's Mea I turned out the next morning, feeling considerably improved, but not sufficiently so to risk starting on our journey, and C., answering for our other two compan-dows. The air now began to be cool and ions, kindly consented to abide my time; bracing, and I fancied that I could feel and, after breakfast, proposed to look out additional improvements at each sucfor the duck that we had seen the even- ceeding mile. From the Meadows, our ing previous, volunteering to row me to trail took a Northeasterly direction, along a rocky point, where I might lie in wait, a high ridge of gradual, but easy ascent, while he started the game. Getting on for some five or six miles, when we rose board the raft he soon set me down on an abrupt and rugged point, where a view one of the little rocky mounds that rise presented itself of the wildest grandeur, out of the water near the upper end of causing us to halt for a while to satisfy the reservoir; and very soon, to my our gaze. The trail here lay upon the agreeable surprise, he drove the duck very verge of a giddy precipice, facing towards me; when, fortunately, I made the Northwest, at the base of which, lay a lucky shot and killed it. Returning to heavy banks of snow; and below this, the dam we took dinner with our host, was a succession of little basins of water and thanking him for his kind attentions, fed by the slow melting of the snowreturned to camp. Dressing our duck, we drifts; their margins carpeted with perched it upon a willow stick over our beautiful green, presenting a truly rofire and watching the process of its roast-mantic picture. Below, at the left, was ing with watery mouths-little dreaming the deep gorge through which runs the we had caught something that might be south fork of the Stanislaus, and still called a wolf in sheep's clothing, and but lower down, at a distance of some two for its feathers gathered around it when miles, yet apparently almost at our very done with tender solicitude. A single feet, was visible a portion of the great bite at a side bone was sufficient for me, upper reservoir of the Tuolumne Counthe rank, fishy odor that ascended my ty Water Co.,-nine miles above the one nostrils caused me to hurl it away in dis- at Strawberry Flat,—while beyond, to gust. P. followed suit-Judge and C. the west, rose a ridge, composed of one forced down a couple of mouthfuls, when solid mass of bleached granite, without a all agreed in the propriety of consigning single tree or shrub to relieve it, of its it to the dogs, and even they, after a barren and dreary aspect; while to the snuff or two, turned away from it with right, a little farther on, and looking to an air of offended dignity, and we ex- the north, rose in bold relief, those novel peaks of valcanic formation, called the at 2 o'clock descended into what is known "Tooth-picks." Our trail from this, lay upon an entire ly granite formation, and threaded among the rocks, leading us to all points of the compass, the marks of the passage of the Emigrant wagons, were still plainly visible, and now, at every few rods, pieces of their wrecks were yet to be seen. At 4 o'clock, we descended abruptly into a valley of considerable extent, but, for which we know no name. Here was excellent grass and several little minature lakes; and, as the margin of one of which attracted our special attention, we concluded to pitch our camp. It was a thing of rare beauty-a basin scooped out of the solid granite, which here presented a horizontal face of one or two acres, and at the elevation of sev-eral feet above the surrounding valley, without inlet or outlet, and with a depth of some three feet, its water cool and clear as crystal. On the east side, was a little plat of grass, and here we picketed our horses, while for ourselves, we selected a cosy little nook just a few rods to the south, where we built a cheerful fire and spread our blankets with a breastwork of rock on either side. The next morning found us early a-stir and all feeling much better than any previous day. For my own part, I was mending fast, being now able to consume my ration of pork and bread, to the entire satisfaction of the party. Leaving this valley we rose a low granite ridge, and in a quarter of an hour descended into another of greater extent, but presenting, for the most part, a barren appearance, and through which our trail wound circuitously for some three miles, when we found ourselves on the ridge which lies immediately on the west side of the middle fork of the Tuolumne, and near its source. We now bore directly north, our road being somewhat rugged, yet not very difficult, and as Relief Valley. This valley takes its very appropriate name from the fact that it was here that relief was brought to the emigrants in their almost starving condition, from the generous-hearted citizens of Sonora and Columbia-among whom was my present companion, Judge C. The passage of this emigrant train, which forced its way through this almost impassable section of the Sierra Nevadas in 1852, was one of peculiar hardship and suffering-excelled in this respect, perhaps, only by the ill-fated one of '46, that starved on the Truckee. They followed the ill-judged advice of a few persons from Tuolumne county, who went out and met them at the sink of the Humboldt, and at the junction of the old emigrant road with Carson river, thirty-five miles west of the Desert, a large train with a vast amount of stock struck off to the south, following up Walker's river, and crossed the mountains at the source of its western branch. Much of their road, after getting into the mountains, they were compelled to make, hauling their wagons up some of the steeps by means of ropes, while their stock died at a fearful rate. At one place, a few miles to the east of the Summit, they were forced to drain down some three or four feet of a small lake to enable them to ford it on one side-it being utterly impossible to go around it; and such was the nature of their trials for near one hundred miles, occupying so much time that their provisions gave out, when they sent an express through to Columbia and Sonora for relief, and a pack-train was immediately fitted out, which, as we have shown, reached them in this valley, the recollection of which, I doubt not, is, and ever will remain fresh in the minds of those who were of the unfortunate party. The bleached bones of many, many animals are still to be seen scattered over it, as, in fact, they are on either side of the trail for a distance of more than a hun difficult and almost dangerous. In about an hour we struck the extreme eastern branch of the main river, and following it up for a half hour we again pitched our camp for the night, in a grove of cedar near a little bar, which afforded just sufficient grass for our animals for the night. We were now in a truly wild spot, and the mountains on each side of us presented a curious picture, from the fact of their being of such entire opposite formations, and at the same time in such proximity. To our right, and rising abruptly from the branch, the mountain was one unbroken mass of bare granite, its depressions still containing masses of snow, to which Judge and C. climbed and could almost have thrown a snowball into our camp-fire. To the left the ridge was of volcanic formation, and at a distance of three hundred yards from the stream, presented a perpendicular face to the height of twelve hundred feet from the river bed. dred and fifty miles, and now, in many "Well, but have you found the trail?" "Be blow'd if ever I saw them plentier in the States." "D-n the huckleberries," responded Judge; and letting go the rein to the mule, struck out to search for the trail himself, and very soon apprised us that it was found, when we again pushed on, not stopping to gather the berries, though they were plenty and of excellent flavor. Our road now, contrary to our expectations, bore southeast, and across the river, when we commenced a sudden ascent, This night we suffered somewhat from cold, for we had attained a great altitude, and a chilly wind sucked down the gorge, but the next morning all of us were feeling exceedingly well, notwithstanding. We were now six miles from the Summit, and making an early start, wishing to pass as far beyond it as possible this day, we began to be sensible that our blankets were insufficient for the climate The trail now, for the next mile, became at each step more rough and difficult, and, in some places, almost dangerous. Then we descended again to the stream, and from thence on to the Summit the road was of gradual and easy ascent. As we crossed the stream we passed into a grove of poplar and cedar, when "Miss Kit," one of our pack animals-a frivolous little mustang-took upon herself the responsibility of a stampede and scattered the various articles that composed her pack pretty considerably. She struck out up the flat like a A flying arrow to the distance of a hundred | on either hand were barren and dreary, and fifty yards, when she suddenly and those at the south and east were wheeled and took a bee line for my hon- more generally covered with snow. est old horse, with the evident intention little below us, looking southeast, and of upsetting his pack, viz: myself. An- across which lay our trail, was a flat, or ticipating her design, I drove the spurs valley, of considerable extent, in the ceninto my horse and took cover behind a tre of which was a little lake of a few large cedar just in time to retain my acres; which, however, only added to equilibrium, and directly a sudden sheer the dreariness of the scene, for the cutbrought her up "all standing" against ting blast swept across it, driving it into a low-spreading poplar, when C. caught little angry waves, and as we threaded her bridle-rein and administered a few our way in gloomy silence along its marlusty kicks, which had the salutary effect gin, we realized to the fullest extent our of making her "behave herself" for the previous anticipations in regard to findbalance of the day. "Mula" during this ing a cooler climate. The raw wind cut time, contrary to our expectations, car- and chapped the tender skin of our faces, ried herself very decorously, for, instead so suddenly boosted up from a more conof joining in the "lark," made quickly genial atmosphere, while the water from for a clump of willows on the bank of the our eyes almost frosted on our cheeks, creek, with one ear cocked forward and causing us to hold in tender regard all the other back, showing that she was warm places, though perhaps 'twould be looking at least two ways for Sunday, better to make one exception. A few and backed up into them, evidently to dwarfish cedars only six or eight feet keep out of harm's way, presenting a high, constituted all the timber or sbrubcomical though very sensible appearance. bery within our view. Nothing of any We now began to feel the cold very description appeared to claim residence sensibly as we neared the Summit-the here but the little chipping squirrel, and wind blowing from the southeast was raw he seemed to gain but a meagre subsistand cutting, causing me to button closely ence, judging from his puny appearance— my "roundabout" and bring into requi- not even a raven hovered about to breathe sition my buck-skin gloves. It grew the gloomy silence with his ominous colder and colder, and, as we rose to the croak-all was dreary and cheerless, and Summit, my teeth chattered and limbs we hastened our steps onward to find a quaked, and, as a last resort, I donned a more congenial scene. heavy overcoat that C. had tied upon my saddle, and even then shook like one in an "ager fit." My companions being on foot, suffered less, yet their heavy coats were anything but burdensome now. Heavy banks of snow lay on either side of our trail, though exposed to the sun at least eight hours in the day. An hour's travel carried us across the Summit plain, when we began to descend the eastern slope, and three miles further on, struck the first considerable branch of Walker's river, down which we continued our course, crossing it many times, the road, meanwhile, becoming more and more rugged, while pieces of wagons were to be met with at every few steps. (Concluded in our next.) Never be ashamed of confessing your ignorance; for the wisest man upon earth that which he knows is a mere nothing in is ignorant of many things, inasmuch as comparison with what he does not know. COME MEET ME. Come meet me, come meet me, my own pretty Nell, Come meet me then, down at the foot of the hill, For the spot like myself, learned a lesson of love, Come meet me, then, dearest, the magical spell THE LAST BACCHANALIAN. It was a fearfully wild night that followed the death of our old comrade Jack, with whom we had labored many days, and shared many a meal. But now, Jack had departed from our circle; no more could he tip his glass to our health, nor crack his jokes among us; for there he lay, cold and inanimate as the earth in which we were about to bury him. Our location was in a deep river cañon in which we had for a long time worked, and so long inhabited that the rough and forbidding face of nature began to form a coloring to our existence, and make life seem as though surrounded by whispering demons, as we wended at night our way of return to our log cabin home. The high and almost perpendicular mountain ranges, on either side of us, so shut out the light, that on moonless nights our cañon seemed filled with murky darkness—almost perceptible to feeling-and the occasionally seen phosphoric light, glittering from decayed stumps, served to make the darkness appear still grove. ISMOND. more unearthly; while the "too whoo" of the owls sounded dismally from the tops of numerous pine trees, like the wail of departed spirits moaning in their unknown sphere. So long had we been acquainted with these spectral like scenes and sounds, that our minds had become imbued with their images, until we appeared to inhabit that region in common with the unhappy residents of another world. Frequently would we resort to intoxicating drinks to dispel the phantoms that gathered about us; but, when their influence was over, the conjurations returned more vividly to our minds, and our imaginations became more active, and our sensibilities more acute than ever. The more unbearable became our existence in that locality, the greater seemed the difficulties of tearing ourselves from it; and the very dread of the unearthliness of the place appeared a talisman of evil to charm us to the spot. When I reflect on the nature of the imaginings with which that place inspired us, I find it difficult to solve the problem |