A Thousand-Mile Walk 
Merced and the Tuolumne, within ten miles 
of the slaty foothills, is most elaborately carved 
into valleys, hollows, and smooth undulations, 
and among them is laid the Merced Yosemite 
of the plain — Twenty Hill Hollow. 
This delightful Hollow is less than a mile in 
length, and of just sufficient width to form 
a well-proportioned oval. It is situated about 
midway between the two rivers, and five miles 
from the Sierra foothills. Its banks are formed 
of twenty hemispherical hills; hence its name. 
They surround and enclose it on all sides, 
leaving only one narrow opening toward the 
southwest for the escape of its waters. The 
bottom of the Hollow is about two hundred 
feet below the level of the surrounding plain, 
and the tops of its hills are slightly below the 
general level. Here is no towering dome, no 
Tissiack, to mark its place; and one may ramble 
close upon its rim before he is made aware of 
its existence. Its twenty hills are as wonder- 
fully regular in size and position as in form. 
They are like big marbles half buried in the 
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