NOTES OF AN AMERICAN TOUR. 
209 
from one to two miles wide ; it lias an irregular serpentine 
outline, and is of a very striking and unique character. The 
sides are formed by lofty granite cliffs that have nearly vertical 
faces for the greater part of their height, and only a small 
proportion of slope formed by debris at the base of the cliffs. 
These gigantic cliffs are as much as half a mile to three- 
quarters of a mile in height above the valley, and in one part 
rise to nearly a mile vertical height (4,870 feet height) ; but 
the clearness of the atmosphere is such that this great height 
is not at all realised until the actual ascent of the cliffs is 
made, when some hours’ climbing is found to be required m 
getting to the top. 
A special feature of the valley is the waterfalls, of which 
there are several, taking prodigious leaps over the great 
granite cliffs. The largest of these, the Yosemite Fall, takes 
a single leap of 1,500 feet (the highest waterfall known), 
followed by a second leap of 500 feet, and a third of 400 feet, 
forming with some intermediate shorter leaps a continuous 
waterfall of 2,600 feet height, as seen from the valley below. 
One of the waterfalls, called the Bridal Veil Fall, is of 
singular beauty; the total height of fall is 900 feet, of which 
the first 600 feet is a clear leap, but the quantity of water, 
thirty feet width at the top, is not sufficient to make continuous 
solid water to the bottom, and the result is that the water is 
mainly dispersed in the air as spray, which is floated about 
by the wind like a gauze veil. 
The River Merced flows through the valley, and this is well 
wooded throughout, and very fertile in plants, forming a 
beautiful wild garden of flowers ; and the shrubs and flowers 
extend far up the sides of the valley. There are three hotels 
in the middle of the valley, where the coacli-road from the 
railway terminates, and many very interesting and charming 
excursions can be made from there on foot or by ponies, 
getting up to the top of the cliffs in several directions. The 
end of Spring and the begining of Summer is the most 
favourable time for seeing the valley, when the waterfalls are 
well filled by the melting of the snow that covers up the whole 
district in Winter, on account of its great elevation above sea 
level, although in the same latitude as the South of Italy. 
The geological features of the Yosemite Valley are very 
unique, and specially interesting as to the difficulties in 
attempting to explain its formation. The sides are precipitous 
granite cliffs of great height, that do not exhibit any signs of 
erosion by water action. The faces of these cliffs are, 
indeed, being continually renewed by the weathering action 
(mainly of frost in winter), which is continually scaling off 
