302 OUR NATIONAL PARKS 



of boundless forests and trail-building for 

 Brownie. 



Joyous birds welcomed the dawn ; and the 

 squirrels, now their food cones were ripe and 

 had to be quickly gathered and stored for winter, 

 began their work before sunrise. My tea-and- 

 bread-crumb breakfast was soon done, and leav- 

 ing jaded Brownie to feed and rest I sauntered 

 forth to my studies. In every direction Sequoia 

 ruled the woods. Most of the other big conifers 

 were present here and there, but not as rivals or 

 companions. They only served to thicken and 

 enrich the general wilderness. Trees of every 

 age cover craggy ridges as well as the deep mo- 

 raine-soiled slopes, and plant their magnificent 

 shafts along every brookside and meadow. Bogs 

 and meadows are rare or entirely wanting in 

 the isolated groves north of Kings River ; here 

 there is a beautiful series of them lying on the 

 broad top of the main dividing ridge, imbedded 

 in the very heart of the mammoth woods as if 

 for ornament, their smooth, plushy bosoms kept 

 bright and fertile by streams and sunshine. 



Resting awhile on one of the most beautiful of 

 them when the sun was high, it seemed impossible 

 that any other forest picture in the world could 

 rival it. There lay the grassy, flowery lawn, three 

 fourths of a mile long, smoothly outspread, bask- 

 ing in mellow autumn light, colored brown and 

 yellow and purple, streaked with lines of green 



