4 
76 RESOUCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
sand and sixty-three feet, which is the figure given by the offi- 
cial surveyor of that county; but others have estimated the 
height at two thousand three hundred and two thousand five 
hundred feet. 
Across from the Yosemite Falls, on the southern side of the 
valley, is the Pyramid Rock, so named from the shape which 
it bears when seen from some points of view. It is three 
thousand two hundred feet high. Three miles further up and 
at the head of the valley is “ Mirror or Tocoya Lake,” a beau- 
tiful body of water covering about eight acres. The northern 
side of this lake washes the foot of the North Dome, a hiige 
mountain of rock crowned with a dome-like knob, three thou- 
sand six hundred and thirty feet high; and near the southern 
edge of the lake is the perpendicular face of the South Dome, 
a still higher mountain, which rises up four thousand four hun- 
dred and eighty-one feet, towering above ail the peaks in the 
vicinity. This peak is a sublime sight, with its perpendicular 
wall, which, as you look up at it, seems as if it would keep 
going up forever. 
Winding back now along the southern side of the valley, we 
soon come to the southern fork of the Merced River, which 
rushes down through a gorge. We ascend this gorge on foot, 
climbing with great labor over rocks and through the brush- 
wood, and at the distance of a mile and a half come to the 
Vernal or Canopah Falls, where the stream, about one hun- 
dred feet wide, falls three hundred and fifty feet into a basin 
surmounted by large evergreen trees. This cascade possesses 
one great advantage over all the others of the Yosemite val- 
Jey, and that is, it can be approached from above, where we 
look down upon it from the top of the granite cliff, leaning 
over a natural parapet of rock, as convenient as though made 
expressly for the accommodation of picturesque tourists. 
About half a mile above the Vernal Fall the river takes a 
another leap, called the Nevada or Awanee Falls, but it costs 
a mile and a half of roundabout clambering to get to it. The 
fall is seven hundred feet high, half of which the water shoots 
