THE SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS 



dry channel of one of the tributary streams, 

 but, following it down a short distance, I de 

 scried a few specimens of the scarlet mimulus; 

 and I was assured that water was near. I found 

 about a bucketful in a granite bowl, but it 

 was full of leaves and beetles, making a sort 

 of brown coffee that could be rendered avail 

 able only by filtering it through sand and 

 charcoal. This I resolved to do in case the 

 night came on before I found better. Follow 

 ing the channel a mile farther down to its con 

 fluence with another, larger tributary, I found 

 a lot of boulder pools, clear as crystal, and 

 brimming full, linked together by little glis 

 tening currents just strong enough to sing. 

 Flowers in full bloom adorned the banks, lilies 

 ten feet high, and luxuriant ferns arching over 

 one another in lavish abundance, while a noble 

 old live oak spread its rugged boughs over all, 

 forming one of the most perfect and most 

 secluded of Nature s gardens. Here I camped, 

 making my bed on smooth cobblestones. 



Next morning, pushing up the channel of 

 a tributary that takes its rise on Mount San 

 Antonio, I passed many lovely gardens watered 

 by oozing currentlets, every one of which had 

 lilies in them in the full pomp of bloom, and a 

 rich growth of ferns, chiefly woodwardias and 

 aspidiums and maidenhairs; but toward the 



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