WATER BORDERS 



the pushing flower-stalk within, that has 

 open blossoms before it has fairly un- 

 cramped from the sheath. It commends 

 itself by a certain exclusiveness of growth, 

 taking enough room and never elbowing ; 

 for if the flora of the lake region has a fault 

 it is that there is too much of it. We have 

 more than three hundred species from 

 Kearsarge Canon alone, and if that does 

 not include them all it is because they were 

 already collected otherwhere. 



One expects to find lakes down to about 

 nine thousand feet, leading into each other 

 by comparatively open ripple slopes and 

 white cascades. Below the lakes are filled 

 basins that are still spongy swamps, or 

 substantial meadows, as they get down and 

 down. 



Here begin the stream tangles. On 

 the east slopes of the middle Sierras the 

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