42 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOENIA 



fragments. This dry fragmentary snow is still 

 further prepared for the formation of banners by 

 the action of the wind. For, instead of finding rest 

 at once, like the snow which falls into the tranquil 

 depths of the forests, it is rolled over and over, 

 beaten against rock-ridges, and swirled in pits and 

 hollows, like boulders, pebbles, and sand in the 

 pot-holes of a river, until finally the delicate angles 

 of the crystals are worn off, and the whole mass is 

 reduced to dust. And whenever storm- winds find 

 this prepared snow-dust in a loose condition on ex 

 posed slopes, where there is a free upward sweep to 

 leeward, it is tossed back into the sky, and borne 

 onward from peak to peak in the form of banners 

 or cloudy drifts, according to the velocity of the 

 wind and the conformation of the slopes up or 

 around which it is driven. While thus flying 

 through the air, a small portion makes good its es 

 cape, and remains in the sky as vapor. But far 

 the greater part, after being driven into the sky 

 again and again, is at length locked fast in bossy 

 drifts, or in the wombs of glaciers, some of it to 

 remain silent and rigid for centuries before it is 

 finally melted and sent singing down the mountain 

 sides to the sea. 



Yet, notwithstanding the abundance of winter 

 snow-dust in the mountains, and the frequency of 

 high winds, and the length of time the dust remains 

 loose and exposed to their action, the occurrence 

 of well-formed banners is, for causes we shall here 

 after note, comparatively rare. I have seen only 

 one display of this kind that seemed in every way 

 perfect. This was in the winter of 1873, when the 



