162 OUR NATIONAL PARKS 



small flowers that grow among them; myriads 

 of keen lance rays infinitely fine, white or colored, 

 making an almost continuous glow over all the 

 ground, with here and there throbbing, spangling 

 lilies of light, on the larger gems. At first sight 

 only these crystal sunflowers are noticed, but 

 looking closely you discover minute gilias, 

 ivesias, eunanus, phloxes, etc., in thousands, 

 showing more petals than leaves ; and larger 

 plants in hollows and on the borders of rills, — 

 lupines, potentillas, daisies, harebells, mountain 

 columbine, astragalus, fringed with heathworts. 

 You wander about from garden to garden en- 

 chanted, as if walking among stars, gathering 

 the brightest gems, each and all apparently doing 

 their best with eager enthusiasm, as if everything 

 depended on faithful shining; and considering 

 the flowers basking in the glorious light, many 

 of them looking like swarms of small moths and 

 butterflies that were resting after long dances in 

 the sunbeams. Now your attention is called to 

 colonies of woodchucks and pikas, the mounds in 

 front of their burrows glittering like heaps of 

 jewelry, — romantic ground to live in or die in. 

 Now you look abroad over the vast round land- 

 scape bounded by the down-curving sky, nearly 

 all the Park in it displayed like a map, — forests, 

 meadows, lakes, rock waves, and snowy mountains. 

 Northward lies the basin of Yosemite Creek, 

 paved with bright domes and lakes like larger crys- 



