In the Sierra 



berating among the mountains and canons, 

 - some strokes near, crashing, ringing in 

 the tense crisp air with startling keenness, 

 while the distant peaks loomed gloriously 

 through the cloud fringes and sheets of rain. 

 Now the storm is past, and the fresh washed 

 air is full of the essences of the flower gardens 

 and groves. Winter storms in Yosemite 

 must be glorious. May I see them ! 



Have got my bed made in our new 

 camp, plushy, sumptuous, and deliciously 

 fragrant, most of it magnified fir plumes, of 

 course, with a variety of sweet flowers in the 

 pillow. Hope to sleep to-night without 

 tottering nerve-dreams. Watched a deer 

 eating ceanothus leaves and twigs. 



July 1 8. -- Slept pretty well ; the valley 

 walls did not seem to fall, though I still 

 fancied myself at the brink, alongside the 

 white, plunging flood, especially when half 

 asleep. Strange the danger of that adven- 

 ture should be more troublesome now that 

 I am in the bosom of the peaceful woods, 



[ 163 j 



