white brush of foam. Tliis is n lidlo Yosomite 

 vnlloy. 1( is nhout two tliousniul fi>(^t nhovo the 

 Icvrl of th(» iHjiin VoscMuito, niul jibout twtMity- 

 four luiiuh'od bolovv lAiko Teimyn. 



I found {\w h\ko frozen, and tl\o ico was so 

 cloar and unrulllod that t ho surrounchnji; moun- 

 tains and the groves that K)ok down upon it 

 wore rolloctod almost as porfoctly as I ever 

 bohoUl tliom in tlio cahn oviMiing mirrors of 

 sununor. At a little distaiur, it was ditlicult 

 to boiiovo tho lako froy.on at all; and when I 

 walked out on it, cautiously stanipinii; at short 

 intervals to tost tho strongth of tlio ico, I 

 sconiod to walk mystoriously, without ade- 

 quate faith, on the surface of the water. The 

 ice was so traTis]>arent that T could see thnniph 

 it the boaulifully wave-rippled, sandy bottom, 

 and the scales of mica pi in ting back tho down- 

 pourinti; liii;ht. When I knelt down with my 

 face close to the ice, throuij;h which the sun- 

 beams wore pouring, I wa^ delighted to dis- 

 cover myriads of Tyndairs six-rayed water 

 flowers, magnilicently cohnvd. 



A grandoid mountain mansion is thisTonaya 

 region! In the glacier pc^riixi it was a nur de 

 ghiir, far grander than the mer </<• (jhicc of 

 Swit7.erland, which is only about half a milo 

 broad. The Tonaya nur de glace was not loss 

 than two miles broad, late hi tho glacier epoch, 



20 



