THE FORESTS OF THE YOSEMITE PARK 129 



in canons and Yosemite valleys, from about 

 three to five thousand feet above the sea. In 

 tough, sturdy, unwedgeable strength this is the 

 oak of oaks. In general appearance it resembles 

 the great live-oak of the Southern states. It 

 has pale gray bark, a short, uneven, heavily but- 

 tressed trunk which usually divides a few feet 

 above the ground into strong wide-reaching 

 limbs, forming noble arches, and ending in an in- 

 tricate maze of small branches and sprays, the 

 outer ones frequently drooping in long tresses to 

 the ground like those of the weeping willow, 

 covered with small simple polished leaves, mak- 

 ing a canopy broad and bossy, on which the sun- 

 shine falls in glorious brightness. The acorn 

 cups are shallow, thick-walled, and covered with 

 yellow fuzzy dust. The flowers appear in May 

 and June with a profusion of pollened tresses, 

 followed by the bronze-colored young leaves. 



No tree in the park is a better measure of alti- 

 tude. In canons, at an elevation of four thou- 

 sand feet, you may easily find a tree six or eight 

 feet in diameter ; and at the head of a side 

 canon, three thousand feet higher, up which you 

 can climb in less than two hours, you find the 

 knotty giant dwarfed to a slender shrub, with 

 leaves like those of huckleberry bushes, still 

 bearing acorns, and seemingly contented, form- 

 ing dense patches of chaparral, on the top of 

 which you may make your bed and sleep softly 



