THE FOKESTS 193 



The roots of this immense tree fill the ground, form 

 ing a thick sponge that absorbs and holds back the 

 rains and melting snows, only allowing them to 

 ooze and flow gently. Indeed, every fallen leaf and 

 rootlet, as well as long clasping root, and prostrate 

 trunk, may be regarded as a dam hoarding the 

 bounty of storm-clouds, and dispensing it as bless 

 ings all through the summer, instead of allowing it 

 to go headlong in short-lived floods. Evaporation 

 is also checked by the dense foliage to a greater ex 

 tent than by any other Sierra tree, and the air is 

 entangled in masses and broad sheets that are 

 quickly saturated ; while thirsty winds are not al 

 lowed to go sponging and licking along the ground. 



So great is the retention of water in many places 

 in the main belt, that bogs and meadows are created 

 by the killing of the trees. A single trunk falling 

 across a stream in the woods forms a dam 200 feet 

 long, and from ten to thirty feet high, giving rise 

 to a pond which kills the trees within its reach. 

 These dead trees fall in turn, thus making a clear 

 ing, while sediments gradually accumulate chang 

 ing the pond into a bog, or meadow, for a growth 

 of carices and sphagnum. In some instances a series 

 of small bogs or meadows rise above one another 

 on a hillside, which are gradually merged into one 

 another, forming sloping bogs, or meadows, which 

 make striking features of Sequoia woods, and since 

 all the trees that have fallen into them have been 

 preserved, they contain records of the generations 

 that have passed since they began to form. 



Since, then, it is a fact that thousands of Sequoias 

 are growing thriftily on what is termed dry ground, 



