76 R E S O U C E S OF CALIFORNIA. 



sand and sixty-three feet, which is the figure given by the offi- 

 cial surveyor*^ of that county; but others have estimated the 

 lieicrht at two thousand three hundred and two thousand five 



hundred feet. 



Across from the Yosemite Falls, on the southern side of the 

 valley, is the Pyramid Rock, so named from the shape which 

 it bears when seen from some points of view. It is three 

 thousand two hundred feet high. Three miles further up and 

 at the head of the valley is "Mirror or Tocoya Lake," a beau- 

 tiful body of water covering about eight acres. The northern 

 side of this lake washes the foot of the North Dome, a huge 

 mountain of rock crowned with a dome-like knob, three thou- 

 sand six hundred and thirty feet high ; and near the southern 

 edge of the lake is the perpendicular face of the South Dome, 

 a still higher mountain, which rises up four thousand four hun- 

 dred and eighty-one feet, towering above all the peaks in the 

 vicinity. This*^peak is a sublime sight, with its perpendicular 

 wall, which, as you look up at it, seems as if it would keep 

 going up forever. 



Winding back now along the southern side of the valley, we 

 soon come to tlie southern fork of the Merced River, which 

 rushes down through a gorge. We ascend this gorge on foot, 

 climbing with great labor over rocks and through the brush- 

 wood, and at the distance of a mile and a half come to the 

 Vernal or Canopah Falls, where the stream, about one hun- 

 dred feet wide, falls three hundred and fifty feet into a basin 

 surmounted by large evergreen trees. This cascade possesses 

 one great advantage over all the others of the Yosemite val- 

 ley, and that is, it can be approached from above, where we 

 look down upon it from the top of the granite cliflT, leaning 

 over a natural parapet of rock, as convenient as though made 

 expressly for the accommodation of picturesque tourists. 



About half a mile above the Vernal Fall the river takes a 

 another leap, called the Nevada or Awanee Falls, but it costs 

 a mile and a half of roundabout clambering to get to it. The 

 fall is seven hundred feet high, half of which the water shoots 



