STEEP TRAILS 



caverns and cliffs with the foam and uproar 

 of a thousand Yosemite waterfalls. The bones 

 of many a noble ship lie there, and many a 

 sailor. It would seem unlikely that any living 

 thing should seek rest in such a place, or find 

 it. Nevertheless, frail and delicate flowers 

 bloom there, flowers of both the land and the 

 sea; heavy, ungainly seals disport in the swell 

 ing waves, and find grateful retreats back in 

 the inmost bores of its storm-lashed caverns; 

 while in many a chink and hollow of the high 

 est crags, not visible from beneath, a great 

 variety of water-fowl make homes and rear 

 their young. 



But not always are the inhabitants safe, 

 even in such wave-defended castles as these, 

 for the Indians of the neighboring shores ven 

 ture forth in the calmest summer weather in 

 their frail canoes to spear the seals in the nar 

 row gorges amid the grinding, gurgling din of 

 the restless waters. At such times also the 

 hunters make out to scale many of the appar 

 ently inaccessible cliffs for the eggs and young 

 of the gulls and other water-birds, occasionally 

 losing their lives in these perilous adventures, 

 which give rise to many an exciting story told 

 around the camp-fires at night when the storms 

 roar loudest. 



Passing through the strait, we have the 



210 



