176 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOKNIA 



ing. Other companies are made up of trees near 

 the prime of life, exquisitely harmonized to one 

 another in form and gesture, as if Nature had culled 

 them one by one with nice discrimination from all 

 the rest of the woods. 



It is from this tree, called Eed Fir by the lumber 

 man, that mountaineers always cut boughs to sleep 

 on when they are so fortunate as to be within its 

 limits. Two rows of the plushy branches overlap 

 ping along the middle, and a crescent of smaller 

 plumes mixed with ferns and flowers for a pillow, 

 form the very best bed imaginable. The essences 

 of the pressed leaves seem to fill every pore of one's 

 body, the sounds of falling water make a soothing 

 hush, while the spaces between the grand spires 

 afford noble openings through which to gaze 

 dreamily into the starry sky. Even in the matter 

 of sensuous ease, any combination of cloth, steel 

 springs, and feathers seems vulgar in comparison. 



The fir woods are delightful sauntering-grounds 

 at any time of year, but most so in autumn. Then 

 the noble trees are hushed in the hazy light, and 

 drip with balsam; the cones are ripe, and the seeds, 

 with their ample purple wings, mottle the air like 

 flocks of butterflies; while deer feeding in the 

 flowery openings between the groves, and birds and 

 squirrels in the branches, make a pleasant stir which 

 enriches the deep, brooding calm of the wilderness, 

 and gives a peculiar impressiveness to every tree. 

 No wonder the enthusiastic Douglas went wild with 

 joy when he first discovered this species. Even in 

 the Sierra, where so many noble evergreens chal 

 lenge admiration, we linger among these colossal firs 



