In the Sierra 



This last, however common, is here making 

 shows of strong, exuberant, abounding beauty 

 to set the botanist wild with admiration. I 

 measured some scarce full grown that are 

 more than seven feet high. Though the 

 commonest and most widely distributed of 

 all the ferns, I might almost say that I never 

 saw it before. The broad-shouldered fronds 

 held high on smooth stout stalks growing 

 close together, overleaning and overlapping, 

 make a complete ceiling, beneath which one 

 may walk erect over several acres without 

 being seen, as if beneath a roof. And how 

 soft and lovely the light streaming through 

 this living ceiling, revealing the arching 

 branching ribs and veins of the fronds as the 

 framework of countless panes of pale green 

 and yellow plant-glass nicely fitted together 

 a fairyland created out of the commonest 

 fern-stuff. 



The smaller animals wander about as if 

 in a tropical forest. I saw the entire flock 

 of sheep vanish at one side of a patch and 



[53] 



