STEEP TRAILS 



caverns and cliffs with the foam and uproar 

 of a thousand Yosemite waterfalls. The bones 

 of many a noble ship lie there, and many a 

 sailor. It would seem unlikely that any living 

 thing should seek rest in such a place, or find 

 it. Nevertheless, frail and delicate flowers 

 bloom there, flowers of both the land and the 

 sea; heavy, ungainly seals disport in the swell- 

 ing waves, and find grateful retreats back in 

 the inmost bores of its storm-lashed caverns; 

 while in many a chink and hollow of the high- 

 est crags, not visible from beneath, a great 

 variety of water-fowl make homes and rear 

 their young. 



But not always are the inhabitants safe, 

 even in such wave-defended castles as these, 

 for the Indians of the neighboring shores ven- 

 ture forth in the calmest summer weather in 

 their frail canoes to spear the seals in the nar- 

 row gorges amid the grinding, gurghng din of 

 the restless waters. At such times also the 

 hunters make out to scale many of the appar- 

 ently inaccessible cliffs for the eggs and young 

 of the gulls and other water-birds, occasionally 

 losing their lives in these perilous adventures, 

 which give rise to many an exciting story told 

 around the camp-fires at night when the storms 

 roar loudest. 



Passing through the strait, we have the 



210 



