In the Sierra 



gold-bearing slates are mostly restricted to 

 the foothills. The region about our camp 

 is still wild, and higher lies the snow about 

 as trackless as the sky. 



Only a few hills and domes of cloudland 

 were built yesterday and none at all to-day. 

 The light is peculiarly white and thin, 

 though pleasantly warm. The serenity of 

 this mountain weather in the spring, just 

 when Nature's pulses are beating highest, 

 is one of its greatest charms. There is only 

 a moderate breeze from the summits of the 

 Range at night, and a slight breathing from 

 the sea and the lowland hills and plains 

 during the day, or stillness so complete no 

 leaf stirs. The trees hereabouts have but 

 little wind history to tell. 



Sheep, like people, are ungovernable when 

 hungry. Excepting my guarded lily gardens, 

 almost every leaf that these hoofed locusts 

 can reach within a radius of a mile or two 

 from camp has been devoured. Even the 

 bushes are stripped bare, and in spite of 



t 75 ] 



