GEOLOGY OF THE SIERRA NEVADA. Pes | 
Section II. — The Geology of the Sierra Nevada. 
The name Sterra NEvApA, which is simply the Spanish for Snowy Range, 
has become fixed upon two chains of mountains, one in southern Spain, the 
other in California. The latter is, however, by far the most interesting and 
extensive of the two thus designated. Indeed, it iaay be asserted with truth 
that the Californian chain is excelled by few mountain ranges in the world 
in the variety and interest of its physical features. To the geologist espe- 
cially it offers problems for investigation of a quite peculiar character, the 
nature of some of which it is, in good part, the object of the present volume 
to point out. Far inferior as a whole to the Alps in complexity of structure, 
and wanting as it is, in some of those accessories which need to be present in 
order that the height of the picturesque and beautiful may be reached, the 
Sierra Nevada still has features of its own, which will always command atten- 
tion and cause travellers for pleasure as well as for scientific instruction to 
turn their footsteps in its direction. What the Californian Sierra especially 
lacks, to enable it to rival the Alps, is the glacial masses descending with 
their majestic flow from the higher down to the lower portions of the chain. 
Where these are absent, it is impossible to have that variety of scenery 
which is offered by the Alps. Moreover, the element of vegetation, which 
enters so conspicuously into the general effect produced by mountain 
scenery, is decidedly inferior in the Sierra Nevada when considered from the 
point of view of the picturesque. The grassy slopes above the forests, which 
have given their name to the Swiss range (die Alpen), are entirely wanting in 
the Sierra, where the arboreal vegetation extends nearly up to the summits, 
or on the higher ranges ceases at once, only to be succeeded by bare slopes 
and cliffs of rock, to which a few straggling and distorted clumps of trees 
attach themselves at points where they can find shelter and a foot-hold. 
There is also a certain monotony in the forests of the Sierra, in spite of the 
great size and beauty of the individual trees; the Coniferous predominate 
so greatly over the other kinds, that in a distant view they seem to have the 
entire monopoly of the surface; and, grand as the pines and firs may be, 
each tree being examined by itself, or impressive as the forest may appear 
to one merely looking at it as a forest, the foliage is too monotonous and 
sombre to give the variety which the cultivated eye demands in a panoramic 
mountain view. As contrasted with the Rocky Mountains, on the other hand, 
the Sierra Nevada greatly excels, both in the variety and grandeur of its 
scenery, and in the scientific interest challenged by its geological features. 
