In the Sierra 



the midst of them and flashing back the sun- 

 beams. The great Tissiack, or Half-Dome, 

 rising at the upper end of the valley to a 

 height of nearly a mile, is nobly proportioned 

 and life-like, the most impressive of all the 

 rocks, holding the eye in devout admiration, 

 calling it back again and again from falls 

 or meadows, or even the mountains beyond, 

 marvelous cliffs, marvelous in sheer dizzy 

 depth and sculpture, types of endurance. 

 Thousands of years have they stood in the 

 sky exposed to rain, snow, frost, earthquake 

 and avalanche, yet they still wear the bloom 

 of youth. 



I rambled along the valley rim to the 

 westward; most of it is rounded off on the 

 very brink, so that it is not easy to find places 

 where one may look clear down the face of 

 the wall to the bottom. When such places 

 were found, and I had cautiously set my feet 

 and drawn my body erect, I could not help 

 fearing a little that the rock might split off 

 and let me down, and what a down! 



