142 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA 



park-like surface, strewn with brown needles and 

 burs. Now you cross a wild garden, now a meadow, 

 now a ferny, willowy stream; and ever and anon 

 you emerge from all the groves and flowers upon 

 some granite pavement or high, bare ridge com 

 manding superb views above the waving sea of 

 evergreens far and near. 



One would experience but little difficulty in riding 

 on horseback through the successive belts all the 

 way up to the storm-beaten fringes of the icy peaks. 

 The deep canons, however, that extend from the 

 axis of the range, cut the belts more or less com 

 pletely into sections, and prevent the mounted trav 

 eler from tracing them lengthwise. 



This simple arrangement in zones and sections 

 brings the forest, as a whole, within the comprehen 

 sion of every observer. The different species are 

 ever found occupying the same relative positions 

 to one another, as controlled by soil, climate, and 

 the comparative vigor of each species in taking 

 and holding the ground; and so appreciable are 

 these relations, one need never be at a loss in de 

 termining, within a few hundred feet, the elevation 

 above sea-level by the trees alone; for, notwith 

 standing some of the species range upward for sev 

 eral thousand feet, and all pass one another more 

 or less, yet even those possessing the greatest verti 

 cal range are available in this connection, in as much 

 as they take on new forms corresponding with the 

 variations in altitude. 



Crossing the treeless plains of the Sacramento 

 and San Joaquin from the west and reaching the 

 Sierra foot-hills, you enter the lower fringe of the 



