266 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA 



compliance to the force of the wind, which gives 

 rise to a still greater degree of interference, and 

 passionate gusts sweep off clouds of spray from 

 the groves like that torn from wave-tops in a gale. 

 All these factors of irregularity in density, color, 

 and texture of the general rain mass tend to make 

 it the more appreciable and telling. It is then seen 

 as one grand flood rushing over bank and brae, 

 bending the pines like weeds, curving this way and 

 that, whirling in huge eddies in hollows and dells, 

 while the main current pours grandly over all, like 

 ocean currents over the landscapes that lie hidden 

 at the bottom of the sea. 



I watched the gestures of the pines while the 

 storm was at its height, and it was easy to see that 

 they were not distressed. Several large Sugar 

 Pines stood near the thicket in which I was sheltered, 

 bowing solemnly and tossing their long arms as if 

 interpreting the very words of the storm while ac 

 cepting its wildest onsets with passionate exhil 

 aration. The lions were feeding. Those who have 

 observed sunflowers feasting on sunshine during 

 the golden days of Indian summer know that none 

 of their gestures express thankfulness. Their celes 

 tial food is too heartily given, too heartily taken 

 to leave room for thanks. The pines were evi 

 dently accepting the benefactions of the storm in 

 the same whole-souled manner ; and when I looked 

 down among the budding hazels, and still lower to 

 the young violets and fern-tufts on the rocks, I 

 noticed the same divine methods of giving and 

 taking, and the same exquisite adaptations of what 

 seems an outbreak of violent and uncontrollable 



