* An Animal Called The Stoat, A Kind Of Ermine, Is Said To Be
Found In North America, But Very Inferior To The European And
Asiatic.
* * The finest fur and the darkest color are most esteemed; and
whether the difference arises from the age of the animal, or from
some peculiarity of location, is not known.
They do not vary more
from the common marten than the Arabian horse from the shaggy
Canadian.
Height of the Rocky Mountains.
VARIOUS estimates have been made of the height of the Rocky
Mountains, but it is doubtful whether any have, as yet, done
justice to their real altitude, which promises to place them only
second to the highest mountains of the known world. Their height
has been diminished to the eye by the great elevation of the
plains from which they rise. They consist, according to Long, of
ridges, knobs, and peaks, variously disposed. The more elevated
parts are covered with perpetual snows, which contribute to give
them a luminous, and, at a great distance, even a brilliant
appearance; whence they derive, among some of the first
discoverers, the name of the Shining Mountains.
James's Peak has generally been cited as the highest of the
chain; and its elevation above the common level has been
ascertained, by a trigonometrical measurement, to be about eight
thousand five hundred feet. Mr. Long, however, judged, from the
position of the snow near the summits of other peaks and ridges
at no great distance from it, that they were much higher.
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