thousand feet of that statement is a good, honest lie.
The lake is a mile wide here, and maintains about
that width from this point to its northern extremity
--which is distant sixteen miles; from here to its
southern extremity--say fifteen miles--it is not
over half a mile wide in any place, I should think.
Its snow-clad mountains one hears so much about
are only seen occasionally, and then in the distance,
the Alps. Tahoe is from ten to eighteen miles wide,
and its mountains shut it in like a wall. Their
summits are never free from snow the year round.
One thing about it is very strange: it never has even
a skim of ice upon its surface, although lakes in the
same range of mountains, lying in a lower and
warmer temperature, freeze over in winter.

It is cheerful to meet a shipmate in these out-of-
the-way places and compare notes with him. We
have found one of ours here--an old soldier of the
war, who is seeking bloodless adventures and rest
from his campaigns, in these sunny lands. ¹

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