THE YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK 81 



hill and ridge and smooth-flowing slope as far as 

 the eye can reach, and filling every hollow and 

 down-plunging ravine in glorious triumphant 

 exuberance. 



Perhaps the best general view of the pine 

 forests of the park, and one of the best in the 

 range, is obtained from the top of the Merced 

 and Tuolumne divide near Hazel Green. On 

 the long, smooth, finely folded slopes of the 

 main ridge, at a height of five to six thousand 

 feet above the sea, they reach most perfect devel- 

 opment and are marshaled to view in magni- 

 ficent towering ranks, their colossal spires and 

 domes and broad palmlike crowns, deep in the 

 kind sky, rising above one another, — a multi- 

 tude of giants in perfect health and beauty, — 

 sun-fed mountaineers rejoicing in their strength, 

 chanting with the winds, in accord with the fall- 

 ing waters. The ground is mostly open and in- 

 viting to walkers. The fragrant chamaebatia is 

 outspread in rich carpets miles in extent; the 

 manzanita, in orchard-like groves, covered with 

 pink bell-shaped flowers in the spring, grows in 

 openings facing the sun, hazel and buckthorn in 

 the dells ; warm brows are purple with mint, 

 yellow with sunflowers and violets ; and tall lilies 

 ring their bells around the borders of meadows 

 and along the ferny, mossy banks of the streams. 

 Never was mountain forest more lavishly fur- 

 nished. 



