74 JJESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



dred, and another three hundred and fifty, and tlieir waters 

 flow through a natural meadow ornamented by beautiful trees 

 and brilliant verdure. 



The valley is a chasm in the Sierra Nevada, four thousand 

 feet above the level of the sea, and distant about one hundred 

 and twenty miles in a direct line from San Francisco, and in a 

 nearly due eastAvard direction. It is watered by the main 

 branch of the Merced River, which above and below makes 

 its way through the mountains in deep and dark gorges, the 

 bottom of which is rarely seen by the sunlight. The valley is 

 ten miles long and nearly three wide in the middle, from which 

 it decreases each way. It is bounded on all sides by walls of 

 yellowish granite, from two thousand to four thousand feet 

 high, in some places perpendicular, and everywhere precipit- 

 ous. It is only at the ends of the valley that it is possible for 

 travellers to get in or out of it, and even there the entrance 

 and exit are difficult for horses and impassable for wagons. 



The general course of the valley is east and west. The main 

 entrance is at the western end, where a steep path leads down 

 a descent of two thousand five hundred feet. The view from 

 the ridge overlooking the valley is splendid. The chasm is 

 seen winding away amidst the cliffs ; a cascade is in sight, and 

 numerous mountain-peaks rise in various directions. At the 

 bottom of the dell are seen the meandering river, the green 

 grass, and lofty trees diminished to the appearance of shrubs. 

 The waterfall seen on the right several miles distant, is a mere 

 white streak on the face of the rock, and does not appear grand 

 in the least, but it is nine hundred and forty feet high, and be- 

 comes imposing as the traveller approaches it. The body of 

 water is about seventy feet wide on the first of June. The fall 

 is called the Cascade of the Rainbow, from the beautiful colors 

 which always, in sunlight, adorn the mist floating about it. 



Nearly opposite this cascade, on the northern . side of the 

 valley, and about three-quarters of a mile distant, but apparently 

 much nearer when the tourist looks up at it, is the Capitan (or 

 Captain), a rock which projects into the valley and rises up 



