"Wiii) ^ife on t^t (FocRteg 



seekers came with their fire havoc. For fifty 

 years we have done our best to hold our ground, 

 but beyond our gulch relentless fire and flashing 

 steel, together with the floods with which out- 

 raged Nature seeks to revenge herself, have slain 

 the grand majority, and much, even, of the pre- 

 cious dust of our ancestors has been washed 

 away." 



With the exception of the night I had the 

 geologist, my days and nights in this locality were 

 spent entirely alone. The blaze of the camp-fire, 

 moonlight, the music and movement of the winds, 

 light and shade, and the eloquence of silence all 

 impressed me more deeply here than anywhere 

 else I have ever been. Every day there was a 

 delightful play of light and shade, and this was 

 especially effective on the summits ; the ever- 

 changing light upon the serrated mountain-crests 

 kept constantly altering their tone and outline. 

 Black and white they stood in midday glare, but a 

 new grandeur was born when these tattered crags 

 appeared above storm-clouds. Fleeting glimpses 

 of the crests through a surging storm arouse 



strange feelings, and one is at bay, as though 



252 



