TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 
337 
tumultuously through a range of high hills, and meets tide¬ 
water ; and thence proceeds in a northwesterly direction to 
the Ocean. The aspect of the country lying on this stream is 
singularly charming. The mountain sides on the south rise 
gradually, and on one-third of their elevation are clothed with 
forests of pine, cedar, and other evergreens. The overtopping 
peaks shine with drifting snows. The highlands on the north 
are generally covered by trees, with rugged crags beetling 
out over their tops; and, at intervals, conical peaks arise, in 
some instances, in clusters, and in others, in solitary magnifi¬ 
cence, over the lower hills. These peaks are frequently very 
beautiful. Their form is that of the frustum of a cone; 
around their bases are green forests ; on their sides hangs 
the dwarf cedar tree, pendant in the air; on their very top, 
in the cold season, is a cap of snow; and down their steep 
sides murmur little brooks. The largest of these peaks lie, 
however, to the eastward, in the President’s range. The 
most conspicuous of these is Mount Jackson, in Latitude 41° 
40' N. This is the highest elevation in the range to which 
it belongs—rising nearly seventeen thousand feet above the 
Ocean, in great abruptness, grandeur, and beauty of outline. 
Its base rests among deep evergreen woods; and it is girdled 
higher up with shrubs and hardy plants, to the region of 
frosts; and there commence the sheeting snows which spread 
wide and high its vast head with the desolation of eternal 
cold. The pathway between Oregon and the Californias 
passes near it. 
The valley itself is a rolling, irregular, inclined plane, 
^ _ 
broken by forests and isolated hills. The latter spring often¬ 
times in the midst of the prairies, like immense haystacks, 
several hundred feet high, some in clusters, and others soli¬ 
tary. These sometimes occur in the forests; and, in such 
cases, they are often castellated with basaltic rocks, presenting 
the appearance of ruined castles. The trees of the Clamit 
Valley consist principally of the same various species of the 
oak which grow on the other side of the Snowy ridge. 
