THE FORESTS 179 



and the nearest of the trees with their whorled 

 branches tower above you like larger lilies, and the 

 sky seen through the garden opening seems one vast 

 meadow of white lily stars. 



In the morning everything is joyous and bright, 

 the delicious purple of the dawn changes softly to 

 daffodil yellow and white; while the sunbeams 

 pouring through the passes between the peaks give 

 a margin of gold to each of them. Then the spires 

 of the firs in the hollows of the middle region catch 

 the glow, and your camp grove is filled with light. 

 The birds begin to stir, seeking sunny branches on 

 the edge of the meadow for sun-baths after the cold 

 night, and looking for their breakfasts, every one of 

 them as fresh as a lily and as charmingly arrayed. 

 Innumerable insects begin to dance, the deer with 

 draw from the open glades and ridge-tops to their 

 leafy hiding-places in the chaparral, the flowers open 

 and straighten their petals as the dew vanishes, 

 every pulse beats high, every life-cell rejoices, the 

 very rocks seem to tingle with life, and G-od is felt 

 brooding over everything great and small. 



BIG TEEE 



(Sequoia gigantea) 



BETWEEN the heavy pine and Silver Fir belts we 

 find the Big Tree, the king of all the conifers in the 

 world, " the noblest of a noble race." It extends in 

 a widely interrupted belt from a small grove on the 

 middle fork of the American River to the head 

 of Deer Creek, a distance of about 260 miles, the 



