than a casual shower. Suddenly the sky darkened, and they heard a loud roaring noise behind them. Mr. Glenn, one of the men, and his comrade, who were sitting on the front seat, finding the horses become unmanageable from fright, jumped out to see what was the matter. The lead horses had swung round, and were making frantic efforts to break loose from their traces. Scarcely had the two men touched the ground when they saw sweeping down toward them a solid flood of water about six or eight feet high, presenting a front like a prodigious wave of the sea as it breaks upon the beach in a storm. They attempted to force the horses up on one side, so as to haul the wagon out of the channel. Before any thing could be done the torrent burst upon them, carrying all before it. The wagon was capsized and dashed to pieces among the rocks. The screams of the women and chil- disappeared. Such was the force of the torrent dren rose high above the wild roar of the that rocks and trees were carried away like feathflood; and for a moment they were seen strug-ers. I saw myself prodigious boulders of solid gling amidst the shattered wreck of the wagon, stone, six or seven feet in diameter, which had but were soon dashed out and whirled against been rolled for miles through the cañon. the rocks. One of the men, by superhuman efforts, succeeded in getting foothold a short distance below, and, grasping an overhanging bush, caught his wife as she was swept along on the raging current. He had dragged her nearly out of the water when she was struck by a heavy piece of drift-wood and torn from his grasp. The next moment she was whirled away beyond reach, and her body, maimed by the jagged rocks, was buried in the current a shapeless mass. Meantime the other man was disabled by his struggles amidst the wreck, and barely escaped with his life. The shrieks of the poor children were heartrending. "Oh, father! father! save me! Oh, mother, save me !" were all that could be heard; but soon their tender limbs were crushed amidst the boiling surges of drift and flood, and they were swept beyond all human aid. In less than a minute nothing was left to mark the tragedy. Women, children, wagon, horses, and all, had was directed by Mrs. Sanchez to the peculiar appearance of a cloud which appeared to hang over the earth like a huge black funnel in the direction of the Big Meadows. It had a dark-greenish tinge around the edges as if charged with sulphur or electricity. Other clouds were in the sky, but the weather was warm and pleasant. The attention of the whole party was fixed upon the black cloud. Suddenly it changed its form, and disappeared almost like magic. Apparently the attraction of the earth had scattered it or absorbed its contents. This was doubtless the same cloud which had burst and swept all before it in the Rocky Cañon. The time and direction corresponded precisely with the tragic event above recorded. The only other instance known to me of the bursting of a water cloud with such disastrous consequences occurred about four years ago in the San Francisquite cañon between Los Angeles and Fort Tejon. I have frequently passed through this cañon, and can readily conceive how disastrous a sudden flood would be any where between the points of entrance and exit. It is some ten or twelve miles through, and closely bounded on each side by precipitous hills TOWN OF MONO. and mountains. Within this distance the road | mountainous parts of that country in wagons, crosses a small stream that courses through they have not often been attended by any loss it eighty-seven times. In this cañon a family of life, though Governor Goodwin, of Arizona, belonging to Los Angeles, who were on their recently gave me an account of an entire minway home from the valley of the San Joaquin, ing camp that was swept away. Two lives were were overtaken by a heavy rain-cloud, which lost and much property damaged. burst close behind them. The man jumped out of his wagon and strove to urge his animals up a steep bank; but the flood came upon them so suddenly that the wagon was swept away, dragging with it the animals. The women and children were all drowned. Proceeding some fourteen miles on our journey we turned the point of a hill overlooking the lake. It seemed to be just at our feet. We had to travel twelve miles farther before we reached Lawrence's Ranch. Down in the cañon on the right of the road I have been told of similar instances of wa- we passed some placer diggings, which attractter-spouts, or, more properly, the bursting of ed considerable attention two years ago. White rain-clouds, in the cañons of the Colorado, and labor could not make it pay, and the usual herd in other parts of Arizona. Owing, perhaps, to of Chinese jackals had crowded in and taken the fact that few people travel through the possession of the abandoned huts and sluices. They seemed to be doing well, if one might | In truth, I had a dream, after my burial in the judge by their noisy jargon and barbarous ges-deepest of these beds, that nature had gifted me ticulations. A few miles beyond we passed the town of Mono, consisting at present of three or four shanties, one of which only was inhabited. with wings, and that I was flying about among the pine-trees pursued by some adroit sportsmen, who amused themselves peppering me with snipe-shot. But this might have been owing to the supper prepared by the skillful hands of the good housewife. It is but simple justice to that lady to say that such a supper would have done honor to the best hotel in New York. For where else but in the mountain regions of the Pacific is there such delicately-flavored mutton, such rich yellow cream, such pure fresh milk and sparkling butter? The biscuits, too, were delicious; and there were preserves of wild mountain berries, and jams and tarts and pies that must have taxed the in A ride of twenty-five miles over the rough mountain trails gave me such an appetite as I had not experienced for many months. The atmosphere is wonderfully clear and bracing in these elevated ranges. An ecstatic glow of health pervades the system; the sight becomes keen; the blood flows freely through the veins; the digestion is perfect; and the world-worn traveler feels something of that elasticity and freshness with which he set forth in early life to put a girdle round about the earth. I was well disposed to enjoy the hospitality of Mr. Law-genuity of the inventor. As for vegetables, rence, the owner of the ranch at which we proposed stopping for the night. It was a pleasant, home-looking place, with hay-stacks, wagons, and lowing cattle about the farm-yard; and the honest watch-dog bayed a deep-mouthed welcome as we rode up to the house. The worthy settler came out on the grassy slope in front and greeted us with the hearty cordiality of a frontiersman. "Get down, gentlemen; get down and come in. We haven't much in this wild country, but what we have is at your service." It was a pleasant surprise, when I was introduced to him, to find that we were old fellowtravelers. there was any variety; and the potatoes were as rich and mealy as the best Irish murphies. I never tasted any thing in the potato-line superior to them. Upon warmly expressing this sentiment to our kind host he was naturally elated, and offered to take me at once to his potato-patch. "You shall see for yourself," said he; "I rather calculate you never saw such a patch." I was pretty stiff, however, after my long ride, and suggested that the morning sunshine would be the best light perhaps in which to view this remarkable potato-patch. It was a pleasant scene that evening at Lawrence's Ranch. A gentleman and his wife from Aurora were stopping at the house for the enjoyment of the lake air; and their conversation contributed greatly to our enjoyment. We sat on the front porch, overlooking the whole magnificent panorama outspread before us. The glowing atmosphere hung over the lake like a vast prismatic canopy. Myriads of aquatic fowl sported on the glassy surface of the water, which reflected the varied outlines and many-colored slopes of the surrounding mountains. Trees, rocks, islands, and all visible objects were du "Bless my soul!" he exclaimed, grasping my hand with the grip of a vice; "is.it possible you have arrived here at last? I have been expecting you for over two years. I knew you'd visit Mono Lake some time or other. Why, my dear fellow, we are old friends! I have traveled with you all over the world-in print." And here let me say, in all humility, that some of the happiest moments of my life have been derived from just such meetings as this in the wild regions bordering on the Pacific. To find myself known where it was least to be ex-plicated with wonderful clearness and accuracy. pected; to receive a cordial greeting as a friend where I could only hope for the ordinary civility due to a stranger; to feel that a few trifles of travel cast adrift upon the world in the pages of a magazine, without a thought of their fate beyond the current month, had inspired, far away from the haunts of civilization, a friendly personal interest in the writer-these, I say, affected me with no ordinary emotions of pleasure; for they proved in some degree that my wanderings in lonely countries had not altogether isolated me from the great brotherhood of man. The house was a snug frame shanty, containing three or four rooms, roughly but comfortably furnished, and decorated with some curious specimens of colored engravings, which evinced at least a leaning toward the Fine Arts. Beds were plenty-deep, full feather beds, in which the sleeper was luxuriously buried for the night. I found that feathers were a staple product here. The white mountains of Montgomery fifty miles distant stood out against the horizon in their minutest details, every rock and furrow as if seen through a telescope. A soft, delicious air, fragrant with the odors of wild flowers and newmade hay, made it a luxury to breathe. High to the right, tipped by the glowing rays of the sun, towered the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevadas. To the west and south, grand and solitary-monarchs among the mountain kings-stood Castle Peak and Mount Dana, as if in sublime scorn of the puny civilization which encircles their feet. These mighty potentates of the wilderness, according to the geological survey of Professor Whitney, reach the altitude respectively, of 13,000 and 13,500 feet above the level of the sea. Still higher mountains have been found to the southward, during a recent expedition of the survey, of which very interesting reports by Professor Brewer, Mr. Charles D. Hoffman, Mr. King, Mr. Gardiner, and others, are now in progress of publication. A new and most interesting region between Kern River and Owen's Valley was explored by these gentlemen during the past summer, of which a brief notice has recently appeared in Silliman's Scientific Journal. The shores of Lake Mono, in the vicinity of the water, have a whitish color, arising from the prevalence of calcareous deposits. It well deserves the name suggested by an early visitor -the "Dead Sea of the West." Not even that wondrous sea, whose bitter waters wash the ruined sites of Sodom and Gomorrah, presents a scene of greater desolation. Fourteen years had passed-how short a time it seemed!-since my trusty guide, Yusef Badra, pointed out to me from the St. Saba road the shores of the Dead Sea. I could almost imagine myself there again. Yet for grandeur of scenery, and for interesting geological phenomena, this lake of the Western Sierras is far superior to the Oriental Sea. Here the traveler, whether artist, geologist, botanist, or poet might spend many months, and find ample occupation for every hour of his time. Lake Mono was visit ed in 1852 by Lieutenant LAKE SHORE. Moore, whose adventures in that wild region, great Walker River basin. It is not improbaduring the Indian war, gave him a high repu-ble that it was once a continuous sea to Walktation on the Pacific coast. I am not aware whether any official report of his visit to Mono has been published. It would doubtless be most interesting; for few men have seen it under such novel and interesting circumstances. The lake is eighteen miles in length by about ten or twelve in width. On the western side are distinct water-marks, showing that in former years it attained an elevation of 800 to 1000 feet above its present level. This would indicate a superficial area of such vast magnitude that it must have resembled a great inland sea. On the eastern side is a gap or depression in the hills, through which it must have flowed, covering an immense area of the er's Lake. But I will not hazard any conjectures on this point; for when one goes beyond the bare facts, as he sees them, in such a country as this, the imagination is bewildered. A vague idea possesses the mind that all the great interior basins, including that of Salt Lake. might have formed a grand intermediate ocean, stretching from the far north to the Gulf of California, between the great parallel ranges of the Cascades and Sierra Nevadas to the west, and the Rocky Mountains to the east. On the Sierra side of the lake there are points of woodland which extend some distance into the water. Back from the shore deep cañons, rocky and precipitous, with ridges of pine on each side, cut their way into the heart of the mountains; and huge boulders, hurled down from the dizzy heights, stand like castles on the beach. From innumerable ravines freshwater springs and streams pour their tribute into the lake. There is no visible outlet; yet the bitterness of the water is retained, and there is seldom a perceptible rise. Even in the great flood of '62, when every ravine poured down a roaring torrent, the rise did not exceed a few inches; and during the continuance of the flood, after the reception of the first volume of water, the level of the lake remained unchanged. It would seem that there must be a subterranean outlet; yet there is no evidence that the surplus water again reaches the surface. The probability is it becomes absorbed in the dry sands of the desert. On the eastern shore low plains or alluvial bottoms, incrusted with alkali, show in distinct curvicular rims, composed of calcareous deposits, the gradual retrocession of the lake to its present level. The beach is strewn with beautiful specimens of boracic or alkaline incrustations. Weeds, twigs, stones, and even dead birds and animals, are covered by this peculiar coating, and present the appearance of coral formations. Some specimens that I picked up are photographic in the minuteness and delicacy of their details. When broken open the fibres of leaves, the feathers of birds, the grain of wood are found impressed in the calcareous moulding with exquisite perfection. Almost every conceivable variety of form may be found among these incrustations. White columns and elaborate façades, like those of the ruined temples of Greece, stand on the desert shore to the north. Archways and domes and embattlements are represented with astonishing fidelity. It is commonly supposed that these are formations of white coral; but there can be no doubt that they are produced by the chemical action of the water, which at frequent intervals is forced up through the fissures of the earth by subterranean heat. These springs are numerous, and probably form around them a base of calcareous matter, which by constant accretions rises above the surrounding level. A curious and rather disgusting deposit of worms, about two feet high by three or four in thickness, extends like a vast rim around the shores of the lake. I saw no end to it during a walk of several miles along the beach. These worms are the larvæ of flies, originally deposited in a floating tissue on the surface of the water. So far as I could discover most of them were dead. They lay in a solid oily mass, exhaling a peculiar though not unpleasant odor in the sun. Swarms of small black flies covered them to the depth of several inches. Such was the multitude of these flies that my progress was frequently arrested by them as they flew up. Whether they were engaged in an attempt to identify their own progeny, or, cannibal-like, were devouring the children of their enemies, it was impossible to determine. The former seemed to be rather a hopeless undertaking amidst such a mixed crowd. The air for a circle of several yards was blackened with these flies, and their buzz sounded like the brewing of a distant storm. My eyes, nose, mouth, and ears were filled. I could not beat them off. Wherever they lit there they remained, sluggish and slimy. I fain had to rush out of reach and seek a breathing-place some distance from the festive scene. It would appear that the worms, as soon as they attain the power of locomotion, creep up from the water, or are deposited on the beach by the waves during some of those violent gales which prevail in this region. The Mono Indians derive from them a fruitful source of subsistence. By drying them in the sun and mixing them with acorns, berries, grass-seeds, and other articles of food gathered up in the mountains, they make a conglomerate called cuchaba, which they use as a kind of bread. I am told it is very nutritious and not at all unpalatable. worms are also eaten in their natural condition. It is considered a delicacy to fry them in their own grease. When properly prepared by a skillful cook they resemble pork "cracklings." I was not hungry enough to require one of these dishes during my sojourn, but would recommend any friend who may visit the lake to eat a pound or two and let me know the result at his earliest convenience. In fact, I don't yearn for fat worms as an article of diet, though almost any kind of food is acceptable when my appetite is good. There must be hundreds, perhaps thousands of tons of these oleaginous insects cast up on the beach every year. There is no danger of starvation on the shores of Mono. The inhabitants may be snowed in, flooded out, or cut off by aboriginal hordes, but they can always rely upon the beach for fat meat. The No other insect or animal that I could hear of exists in the waters of the lake. The concurrent testimony of the settlers is, that nothing containing the vital principle is indigenous to the water. It is possible, however, that scientific research may develop various forms of animalcule. Fish are not found in any of the streams that fall into it, even high up in the Sierra Nevadas. Yet in adjacent streams that form the sources of supply to Owen's and Walker's rivers there is a great abundance of fish. No analysis, I believe, has yet been made of the water of this lake. It is strong and bitter to the taste, and probably contains borax and soda. To the touch it feels soft and soapy; and indeed has much the effect of liquid shaving soap. Upon being rubbed on the skin or any foreign substance, it makes an excellent lather. For washing purposes it is admirable. I washed my head in it, and was astonished at the result. To quote the language of a patent advertisement it removes the dandruff from the hair, purifies the skin, causes a healthy glow, takes the grease out of cloth, and is especially successful as a general expurgator. The only difficulty I found about it is that it shrinks up the flesh when steeped in it for any great length of time, like a |