S C E X E R T . 75 



perpendicularly from the level green-sward three thousand and 

 ninety feet. Continuing our course up the valley, we come 

 soon to another high peak on the same side of the valley, 

 known as the Signal Rock, two thousand nine hundred and 

 twenty-eight feet high. Four miles above the Rainbow cas- 

 cade we come to the great falls of the Yosemite, where tho 

 stream of that name, eighty feet wide, leaps down two thou- 

 sand and sixty-three feet in three falls, of which the first is 

 one thousand three hundred feet high, the next two hundred 

 and fifty, and the third four hundred and fifty. About three 

 hundred feet from the top of the upper fall there is a project- 

 ing ledge on which the stream breaks when the water is low, 

 but up to the middle of June, while the current is large and 

 swift with melted snow, the great body of the water leaps 

 clear of the ledge, and pitches sheer down into the hell of rocks 

 below. The Yosemite fill, sometimes calh d by the Indian 

 name of "Cholook," is, in so far as height is concerned, the 

 greatest cataract in the world; but it does not impress the 

 observer like Niagara. The body of water, never large, is 

 almost lost in spray before reaching the bottom ; and in the 

 late summer, the stream dries up entirely. Niagara is sublime, 

 overwhelming the soul with the idea of power ; Yosemite is 

 beautiful and romantic — that is all. The tremendous precipices 

 here, as throughout the valley, are greater and more impres- 

 sive than the cascades, which have not enough v/ater to con- 

 found. Besides, the falls cannot be approached from those 

 points whence they might be seen to the greatest advantage ; 

 and looking from a distance, the Yosemite somewhat resem- 

 bles a great sheet of white satin hanging over the cliff. But 

 inferior as this one cascade is to Niagara, the valley, taking 

 all its scenery together, is far superior in variety and romantic 

 beauty, and equal in grandeur. A day or two at Niagara is 

 enougli ; while a lover of nature may stay at Yosemite for 

 months and continually find new delights in the study of the 

 scenery. I have given the total height of the three falls of 

 the Yosemite, all of which are very near together, at two thou- 



