In the Sierra 



fifteen or twenty, mounted on mules or small 

 mustang ponies. A strange show they made, 

 winding single rile through the solemn woods 

 in gaudy attire, scaring the wild creatures, 

 and one might fancy that even the great 

 pines would be disturbed and groan aghast. 

 But what may we say of ourselves and the 

 flock ? 



We are now camped at Tamarack Flat, 

 within four or five miles of the lower end 

 of Yosemite. Here is another fine meadow 

 embosomed in the woods, with a deep, clear 

 stream gliding through it, its banks rounded 

 and beveled with a thatch of dipping sedges. 

 The flat is named after the two-leaved pine 

 (Pinus contort a, var. Murray ana], common 

 here, especially around the cool margin of 

 the meadow. On rocky ground it is a rough, 

 thickset tree, about forty to sixty feet high 

 and one to three feet in diameter, bark thin 

 and gummy, branches rather naked, tassels, 

 leaves, and cones small. But in damp, rich 

 soil it grows close and slender, and reaches 



