My First Summer 



tween them , make up most of the foreground; 

 the middle and background present fold 

 beyond fold of finely modeled hills and 

 ridges rising into mountain-like masses in 

 the distance, all covered with a shaggy growth 

 of chaparral, mostly adenostoma, planted so 

 marvelously close and even that it looks 

 like soft, rich plush without a single tree or 

 bare spot. As far as the eye can reach it 

 extends, a heaving, swelling sea of green as 

 regular and continuous as that produced by 

 the heaths of Scotland. The sculpture of the 

 landscape is as striking in its main lines as 

 in its lavish richness of detail; a grand con- 

 gregation of massive heights with the river 

 shining between, each carved into smooth, 

 graceful folds without leaving a single rocky 

 angle exposed, as if the delicate fluting and 

 ridging fashioned out of metamorphic slates 

 had been carefully sandpapered. The w r hole 

 landscape showed design, like man's noblest 

 sculptures. How wonderful the power of its 

 beauty! Gazing awe-stricken, I might have left 

 [ 18 ] 



