86 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOBNIA 



ling and trilling like an ouzel, ever delightfully 

 confiding, no matter how dark the way; leaping, 

 gliding, hither, thither, clear or foaming : manifest 

 ing the beauty of its wildness in every sound and 

 gesture. 



One of its most beautiful developments is the 

 Diamond Cascade, situated a short distance below 

 Red Lake. Here the tense, crystalline water is first 

 dashed into coarse, granular spray mixed with 

 dusty foam, and then divided into a diamond pat- 

 \ tern by following the diagonal cleavage- joints that 

 intersect the face of the precipice over which it 

 pours. Viewed in front, it resembles a strip of 

 embroidery of definite pattern, varying through 

 the seasons with the temperature and the volume 

 of water. Scarce a flower may be seen along its 

 snowy border. A few bent pines look on from a 

 distance, and small fringes of cassiope and rock- 

 ferns are growing in fissures near the head, but 

 these are so lowly and undemonstrative that only 

 the attentive observer will be likely to notice them. 

 On the north wall of the canon, a little below 

 the Diamond Cascade, a glittering side stream 

 makes its appearance, seeming to leap directly 

 out of the sky. It first resembles a crinkled ribbon 

 of silver hanging loosely down the wall, but grows 

 wider as it descends, and dashes the dull rock with 

 foam. A long rough talus curves up against this 

 part of the cliff, overgrown with snow-pressed wil 

 lows, in which the fall disappears with many an 

 eager surge and swirl and plashing leap, finally 

 beating its way down to its confluence with the 

 main canon stream. 



