SCENERY. 43 
The valley should be seen from the mountain-top, whence it 
appears spread out as level as a floor. The fields, differing in 
color according to the season and their condition of cultiva- 
tion, lie like a great checker-board, over which are scattered 
numerous farm-houses, and irregular streaks of timber mark- 
ing the position of the river and its tributaries. The oak-trees 
form a most important part of the scene. They are wide in 
proportion to their height, thick in the trunk, heavy in the 
main boughs, many of which-have a horizontal or downward 
course. The top of the tree has the semicircular shape, and the 
smaller branches have the pendant grace seen in the Eastern 
states only in the elm. The large upper boughs of the Cali- 
fornian white-oak have at their extremities some branches or 
twigs that hang perpendicularly down from three to twenty 
feet, and many of the trees for this reason look in the summer 
as though they were covered with vines. Add to these pecu- 
liarities the abundant gray Spanish moss, hanging like long 
and venerable beards from all the twigs and boughs, and 
the dark druidical mistletoe, and we have one of the most 
important and characteristic features of the Californian land- 
scape. 
Sufiol valley, a little dale about three miles in diameter, 
nearly circular in shape, and shut in on all sides by mountains, 
is destined to become famous at some future day for its beauty. 
Now it is in a state of nature, but art will give it new charms. 
The places in the state most visited on account of their nat- 
ural scenery are the Yosemite valley, the big-tree groves, and 
the Geysers. . 
§ 54. Yosemite Valley.—Y osemite valley is a dell of match- 
less cliffs and cascades, with more scenes of grandeur and 
beauty than can be found within an equal space in any other 
part of the world. Shut in closely by walls of rock almost 
perpendicular, from two thousand to four thousand five hun- 
dred feet high, it has within a radius of five miles five cas- 
cades, one of whichtis two thousand feet high, another nine 
hundred and forty, another seven hundred, another six hun- 
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