278 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



I could stand this no longer. I must escape to the mountain- 

 top or die in tliis most unchristian place; and having been 

 brought up in the good old faith to fear sulphurous flames or 

 something worse as a punishment for evil deeds, and with the 

 steamboat hissing and wheezing above me, the earth oozing with 

 l)oiling waters beneath me, the air loaded with unearthly fumes, 

 liable by tlie contact of soda and acid to throw me aloft or by 

 brimstone and fire to send me l)elow, I hastened to escape from 

 those riutonic regions, and once more to revisit the earth and 

 breathe the pure air of heaven. 



Having done the Geysers, we take our carriages for recross- 

 ing the mountains. We climb up as before and reach the last 

 station. Here we take a fresh relay of horses, the drivers 

 regale themselves with mountain dew, some of our company 

 quaff the crystal rill, some imbibe the ambrosia of the vine. 

 In a few moments we are all on board and all^'ight. And now 

 comes the world-renowned feat of our modern Jehu. Crack 

 goes the whip. " Sharp I " says Foss ; and soon the noble steeds 

 are on the run. Round and round and round, hugging close to 

 the mountain side, we go, and down, down, down, like a boulder 

 from the mountain-top, we dash thousands of feet into the valley 

 l)clow. "Time! time!" say the passengers. Four miles in 

 twenty-two minutes, says the redoubtable Foss. Soon we are 

 on the level road, all thanking a merciful Providence for the 

 preservation of our lives, and resolving never to take that risk 

 again. 



We did not visit ' the Yo-Semite Valley, that wonder of the 

 world, for we remembered that sage advice that discretion was 

 the better part of valor, and so we reserved our visit until the 

 journey should become less dang^erous. 



But someone inquires, "Did you see the big trees?" Oh, 

 yes; there they stood in sublime majesty, towering above all 

 around them ; rexiring their lofty heads midway between heaven 

 and earth, their topmost branches fading from our vision in the 

 blue ether above. " But are these trees so old and grand as 

 have been represented?" Yes; time with unerring finger has 

 inscril)cd in concentric circles on their venerable trunks a his- 

 tory far liack of the age when Jesus of Nazareth walked on 

 earth. How marvellous their story ! A thousand years l)cforc 

 our Saviour was born some of these trees had their birth. 



