196 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOKNIA 



fectly protected from the main ice-rivers that con 

 tinued to pour past from the summit fountains 

 long after the smaller local glaciers had been melted. 



Taking now a general view of the belt, beginning 

 at the south, we see that the majestic ancient gla 

 ciers were shed off right and left down the valleys 

 of Kern and King's rivers by the lofty protective 

 spurs outspread embracingly above the warm Se 

 quoia-filled basins of the Kaweah and Tule. Then, 

 next northward, occurs the wide Sequoia-less chan 

 nel, or basin, of the ancient San Joaquin and King's 

 Eiver mer de glace ; then the warm, protected spots 

 of Fresno and Mariposa groves ; then the Sequoia- 

 less channel of the ancient Merced glacier ; next the 

 warm, sheltered ground of the Merced and Tuol- 

 umne groves ; then the Sequoia-less channel of the 

 grand ancient mer de glace of the Tuolumne and 

 Stanislaus ; then the warm old ground of the Cala- 

 veras and Stanislaus groves. It appears, therefore, 

 that just where, at a certain period in the history 

 of the Sierra, the glaciers were not, there the Se 

 quoia is, and just where the glaciers were, there the 

 Sequoia is not. 



What the other conditions may have been that 

 enabled Sequoia to establish itself upon these oldest 

 and warmest portions of the main glacial soil-belt, 

 I cannot say. I might venture to state, however, in 

 this connection, that since the Sequoia forests pre 

 sent a more and more ancient aspect as they extend 

 southward, I am inclined to think that the species 

 was distributed from the south, while the Sugar 

 Pine, its great rival in the northern groves, seems 

 to have come around the head of the Sacramento 



