It is the nearest lake to the western rim, as the Great Salt Lake is to the eastern rim of the Great Basin which lies between the base of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada--and the extent and character of which, its whole circumference and contents, it is so desirable to know.
The Indians then directed him to a river of which he says: Groves of large cottonwood, which we could see at the mouth, indicated that it was a stream of considerable size, and, at all events, we had the pleasure to know that now we were in a country where human beings could live.

Reaching the groves, we found the inlet of a large fresh-water stream (the Truckee River), and all at once were satisfied that it was neither Mary's River nor the waters of the Sacramento, but that we had discovered a large interior lake, which the Indians informed us had no outlet.

It is about 35 miles long, and, by the mark of the water-line along the shore, the spring level is about 12 feet above its present waters.
In the meantime, such a salmon-trout feast as is seldom seen was going on in our camp, and every variety of manner in which fish could be prepared--boiled, fried and roasted in the ashes--was put into requisition; and every few minutes an Indian would be seen running off to spear a fresh one.

Whether these Indians had seen whites before, we could not be certain; but they were evidently in communication with others who had, as one of them had some brass buttons, and we noticed several other articles of civilized manufacture.

We could obtain from them but little information about the country.