"Twenty Hill Hollow 



pronounced very good; and because of the con- 

 centrated form of its Yosemite, caused by cer- 

 tain conditions of baking, yeasting, and glacier- 

 frosting of this portion of the great Sierra loaf. 

 In like manner, we readily perceive that the 

 great central plain is one batch of bread — 

 one golden cake — and we are loath to leave 

 these magnificent loaves for crumbs, however 

 good. 



\ After our smoky sky has been washed in the 

 rains of winter, the whole complex row of 

 Sierras appears from the plain as a simple 

 wall, slightly beveled, and colored in horizontal 

 bands laid one above another, as if entirely 

 composed of partially straightened rainbows. 

 So, also, the plain seen from the mountains has 

 the same simplicity of smooth surface, colored 

 purple and yellow, like a patchwork of irised 

 clouds. But when we descend to this smooth- 

 furred sheet, we discover complexity in its phys- 

 ical conditions equal to that of the mountains, 

 though less strongly marked. In particular, 

 that portion of the plain lying between the 

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