CHAPTER IX 



TWENTY HILL HOLLOW ^ 



WERE we to cross-cut the Sierra 

 Nevada into blocks a dozen miles 

 or so in thickness, each section 

 would contain a Yosemite Valley and a river, 

 together with a bright array of lakes and mead- 

 ows, rocks and forests. The grandeur and in- 

 exhaustible beauty of each block would be so 

 vast and over-satisfying that to choose among 

 them would be like selecting slices of bread 

 cut from the same loaf. One bread-slice might 

 have burnt spots, answering to craters; another 

 would be more browned; another, more crusted 

 or raggedly cut ; but all essentially the same. In 

 no greater degree would the Sierra slices differ 

 in general character. Nevertheless, we all would 

 choose the Merced slice, because, being easier 

 of access, it has been nibbled and tasted, and 



* This is the hub of the region where Mr. Muir spent the 

 greater part of the summer of 1868 and the spring of 1869. 



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