THE YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK 87 



Here, also, are the brightest of the Sierra 

 landscapes in general. The regions lying at 

 the same elevation to the north and south were 

 perhaps subjected to as long and intense a gla- 

 ciation ; but because the rocks are less resisting, 

 their polished surfaces have mostly given way to 

 the weather, leaving here and there only small 

 imperfect patches on the most enduring portions 

 of canon walls protected from the action of rain 

 and snow, and on hard bosses kept comparatively 

 dry by boulders. The short, steeply inclined 

 canons of the east flank of the range are in some 

 places brightly polished, but they are far less 

 magnificent than those of the broad west flank. 



One of the best general views of the middle 

 region of the park is to be had from the top of 

 a majestic dome which long ago I named the 

 Glacier Monument. It is situated a few miles 

 to the north of Cathedral Peak, and rises to a 

 height of about fifteen hundred feet above its 

 base and ten thousand above the sea. At first 

 sight it seems sternly inaccessible, but a good 

 climber will find that it may be scaled on the 

 south side. Approaching it from this side you 

 pass through a dense bryanthus-fringed grove of 

 mountain hemlock, catching glimpses now and 

 then of the colossal dome towering to an immense 

 height above the dark evergreens ; and when at 

 last you have made your way across woods, wad- 

 ing through azalea and ledum thickets, you step 

 abruptly out of the tree shadows and mossy 



