In the Sierra 



safe in the recesses of a clump of chaparral. 

 Gentle saurians, dragons, descendants of an 

 ancient and mighty race, Heaven bless you 

 all and make your virtues known ! for few 

 of us know as yet that scales may cover 

 fellow creatures as gentle and lovable as 

 feathers, or hair, or cloth. 



Mastodons and elephants used to live here 

 no great geological time ago, as shown by 

 their bones, often discovered by miners in 

 washing gold-gravel. And bears of at least 

 two species are here now, besides the Cali- 

 fornia lion or panther, and wild cats, wolves, 

 foxes, snakes, scorpions, wasps, tarantulas; 

 but one is almost tempted at times to regard 

 a small savage black ant as the master ex- 

 istence of this vast mountain world. These 

 fearless, restless, wandering imps, though 

 only about a quarter of an inch long, are 

 fonder of fighting and biting than any beast 

 I know. They attack every living thing 

 around their homes, often without cause as 

 far as I can see. Their bodies are mostly 



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