THE FOEESTS 159 



rock and wave in sign of recognition. The main 

 branches are sometimes found to be forty feet in 

 length, yet persistently simple, seldom dividing at 

 all, excepting near the end ; but anything like a bare 

 cable appearance is prevented by the small, tasseled 

 branchlets that extend all around them ; and when 

 these superb limbs sweep out symmetrically on all 

 sides, a crown sixty or seventy feet wide is formed, 

 which, gracefully poised on the summit of the noble 

 shaft, and filled with sunshine, is one of the most 

 glorious forest objects conceivable. Commonly, 

 however, there is a great preponderance of limbs 

 toward the east, away from the direction of the 

 prevailing winds. 



No other pine seems to me so unfamiliar and self- 

 contained. In approaching it, we feel as if in the 

 presence of a superior being, and begin to walk with 

 a light step, holding our breath. Then, perchance, 

 while we gaze awe-stricken, along comes a merry 

 squirrel, chattering and laughing, to break the spell, 

 running up the trunk with no ceremony, and gnaw 

 ing off the cones as if they were made only for 

 him; while the carpenter- woodpecker hammers 

 away at the bark, drilling holes in which to store 

 his winter supply of acorns. 



Although so wild and unconventional when full- 

 grown, the Sugar Pine is a remarkably proper tree 

 in youth. The old is the most original and inde 

 pendent in appearance of all the Sierra evergreens ; 

 the young is the most regular, a strict follower of 

 coniferous fashions, slim, erect, with leafy, supple 

 branches kept exactly in place, each tapering in out 

 line and terminating in a spiry point. The succes- 



