THE FOKESTS 183 



looking about them. On coming in sight of them 

 for the first time, you are likely to say, "Oh, see 

 what beautiful, noble-looking trees are towering 

 there among the firs and pines! 7 ' their grandeur 

 being in the mean time in great part invisible, but 

 to the living eye it will be manifested sooner or 

 later, stealing slowly on the senses, like the gran 

 deur of Niagara, or the lofty Yosemite domes. Their 

 great size is hidden from the inexperienced observer 

 as long as they are seen at a distance in one harmo 

 nious view. When, however, you approach them 

 and walk round them, you begin to wonder at their 

 colossal size and seek a measuring-rod. These 

 giants bulge considerably at the base, but not more 

 than is required for beauty and safety; and the 

 only reason that this bulging seems in some cases 

 excessive is that only a comparatively small section 

 of the shaft is seen at once in near views. One 

 that I measured in the King's River forest was 25 

 feet in diameter at the ground, and 10 feet in 

 diameter 200 feet above the ground, showing that 

 the taper of the trunk as a whole is charmingly 

 fine. And when you stand back far enough to see 

 the massive columns from the swelling instep to 

 the lofty summit dissolving in a dome of verdure, 

 you rejoice in the unrivaled display of combined 

 grandeur and beauty. About a hundred feet or 

 more of the trunk is usually branchless, but its mas 

 sive simplicity is relieved by the bark furrows, 

 which instead of making an irregular network run 

 evenly parallel, like the fluting of an architectural 

 column, and to some extent by tufts of slender 

 sprays that wave lightly in the winds and cast 



