[Illustration: COBRA DI CAPELLO.]
The natives of India have a superstitious feeling with regard to this
snake; they conceive that it belongs to another world, and when it
appears in this, it is only as a visitor. In consequence of this notion
they always avoid killing it, if possible.
* * * * *
THE PYRAMID LAKE.
[Illustration: Letter P.]
Perhaps of all the localities of the Oregon territory so vividly
described in Captain Fremont's adventurous narrative, the Pyramid Lake,
visited on the homeward journey from the Dallas to the Missouri river,
is the most beautiful. The exploring party having reached a defile
between mountains descending rapidly about 2000 feet, saw, filling up
all the lower space, a sheet of green water some twenty miles broad. "It
broke upon our eyes," says the narrator, "like the ocean: the
neighbouring peaks rose high above us, and we ascended one of them to
obtain a better view. The waves were curling to the breeze, and their
dark green colour showed it to be a body of deep water. For a long time
we sat enjoying the view, for we had become fatigued with mountains, and
the free expanse of moving waves was very grateful. It was like a gem in
the mountains, which, from our position, seemed to enclose it almost
entirely.
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