SCENERY. 75 
perpendicularly from the level green-sward three thousand and 
ninety feet. Continuing our course up the valley, we come 
soon to another high peak on the same side of the valley, 
known as the Signal Rock, two thousand nine hundred and 
twenty-eight feet high. Four miles above the Rainbow cas- 
cade we come to the great falls of the Yosemite, where the 
stream of that name, eighty feet wide, leaps down two thou-, 
sand and sixty-three feet in three falls, of which the first is 
one thousand three hundred feet high, the next two hundred 
and fifty, and the third four hundred and fifty. About three 
hupdred feet from the top of the upper fall there is a project- 
ing ledge on which the stream breaks when the water is low, 
but up to the middle of June, while the current is large and 
swift with melted snow, the great body of the water leaps 
clear of the ledge, and pitches sheer down into the hellof rocks 
below. The Yosemite fall, sometimes called by the Indian 
name of “‘Cholook,” is, in so far as height is concerned, the 
greatest cataract in the world; but it does not impress the 
observer like Niagara. The body of water, never large, is 
almost lost in spray before reaching the bottom; and in the 
late summer, the stream dries up entirely. Niagara is sublime, 
overwhelming the soul with the idea of power; Yosemite is 
beautiful and romantic—that is all. The tremendous precipices 
here, as throughout the valley, are greater and more impres- 
sive than the cascades, which have not enough water to con- 
found. Besides, the falls cannot be approached from those 
points whence they might be seen to the greatest advantage ; 
and looking from a distance, the Yosemite somewhat resem- 
bles a great sheet of white satin hanging over the cliff. But 
inferior as this one cascade is to Niagara, the valley, taking 
all its scenery together, is far superior in variety and romantic 
beauty, and equal in grandeur. A day or two at Niagara is 
enough; while a lover of nature may stay at Yosemite for 
months and continually find new delights in the study of the 
scenery. I have given the total height of the three falls of 
the Yosemite, all of which are very near together, at two thou- 
