THE SEQUOIA 309 



of little jets of pure flame on dry tassels and 

 twigs, and tall spires and flat sheets with jagged 

 flapping edges dancing here and there on grass 

 tufts and bushes, big bonfires blazing in perfect 

 storms of energy where heavy branches mixed 

 with small ones lay smashed together in hundred 

 cord piles, big red arches between spreading 

 root-swells and trees growing close together, 

 huge fire-mantled trunks on the hill slopes glow- 

 ing like bars of hot iron, violet-colored fire run- 

 ning up the tall trees, tracing the furrows of the 

 bark in quick quivering rills, and lighting magnifi- 

 cent torches on dry shattered tops, and ever and 

 anon, with a tremendous roar and burst of light, 

 young trees clad in low - descending feathery 

 branches vanishing in one flame two or three 

 hundred feet high. 



One of the most impressive and beautiful 

 sights was made by the great fallen trunks lying 

 on the hillsides all red and glowing like colossal 

 iron bars fresh from a furnace, two hundred 

 feet long some of them, and ten to twenty feet 

 thick. After repeated burnings have consumed 

 the bark and sapwood, the sound charred surface, 

 being full of cracks and sprinkled with leaves, 

 is quickly overspread with a pure, rich, furred, 

 ruby glow almost flameless and smokeless, pro- 

 ducing a marvelous effect in the night. Another 

 grand and interesting sight are the fires on the 

 tops of the largest living trees flaming above the 



