The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-29 00:00:00

THE YU SEMITE VALLEY.

This wonderful scene, which some day will be
almost a 3 renowned as Niagara, is thus described
by Mr. Frederic Law Olmsted :

"The main featare of the Yu Semite is best in-
dicated in one word as a chasm. It is a chasm
nearly a mile in average width however, and more
than ten miles in length. The central and broader
part of this chasm is occupied at the bottom by a
series of groves of magnificent trees, and meadows
of the most varied, luxuriant, and exquisite her-
bage, through which meanders a broad stream of
the clearest water, rippling over a pebbly bottom,
and eddying among banks of ferns and rushes ;
sometimes narrowed into sparkling rapids; and
sometimes expanding into placid pools, which reflect
the wondrous heights on either side. The walls of
the chasm are generally half a mile, sometimes
nearly a mile in height above these meadows, and
where most lofty are nearly perpendicular, some-

times over jutting. At frequent intervals, however,
they are cleft, broken, terraced, and sloped, and
in these places, as well as everywhere upon the sum-
mit, they are overgrown by thick clusters of trees.
There is nothing strange or exotic in the character
of the vegetation, most of the trees and plants,
especially those of the meadows and water-side, are
closely allied to, and are not readily distinguished
from, those most common in the landscapes of the
Eastern States or the Midland Counties of England.
The stream is such a one as Shakspeare delighted
in, and brings pleasing reminiscences to the traveller
of the Avon or the upper Thames. Banks of hearts-
ease and beds of cowslips and daisies are frequent,
and thickets of alder, dogwood, and willow often
fringe the shores. At several points streams of water
flow into the chasm, descending at one leap from five
hundred to fourteen hundred feet. One small stream
falls in three closely consecutive pitches, a distance
of two thousand six hundred feet, which is more
than fifteen times the height of the falls of Niagara.
In the spray of these falls superb rainbows are seen.
At certain points the walls of rock are plowed in
polished horizontal furrows, at others moraines of
boulders and pebbles are found; both evincing the
terrific force with which in past ages of the earth's
history a glacier has moved down the chasm from
among the adjoining peaks of the Sierras. Beyond
the lofty walls still loftier mountains rise, some
crowned by forests, others in simple rounded cones
of light grey granite. The climate of the region
is never dry like that of the lower parts of the
State of Californa. Even when for several mouths
not a drop of rain has fallen twenty miles to the
westward, and the country there is parched, and all
vegetation withered, the Yo Semite continues
to receive frequent soft showers, and to be
dressed throughout in living green. After
midsummer a light, transparent haze gene-
rally pervades the atmosphere, giving an indescrib-
able softness and exquisite dreamy charm to the
scenery, like that produced by the Indian summer
of the East. Clouds gathering at this season upon

the snowy peaks which rise within forty miles on
each side of the chasm to a height of over twelve
thousand feet, sometimes roll down over the cliffs
in the afternoon, and, under the influence of the
rays of the setting sun, form the most gorgeous and
magnificent thunderheads. The average elevation
of the ground is greater then that of the highest peak

of the White Abuntains, or the Alleghanies, and
the air is rare and braciug ; yet its temperature is
never uncomfortably cool in summer, nor severe in
winter. Flowering shrubs of sweet fragrance and
balmy herbs abound in the meadows, and there is
everywhere a delicate odour of the prevailing foliage
in the pines an-1 cedars. The water of the streams
is soft and limpid, as clear as crystal, abounds with
trout, and, except near its source, is, during the

heat of the summer, of an agreeable temperature
for bathing. In the lower part of the valley there

are copious mineral springs, the water of one of

which is regarded by the aboriginal inhabitants as
having remarkable curative properties. A basin still

exists to which weak and sickly persons were
brought for bathing. The water has not been ana-
lyzed, but that it possesses highly tonic as well as

other medecinal qualities can be readily seen. In the
neighbouring mountains there ara also springs

strongly charged with carbonic acid gas, and said
to resemble in taste the Empire springs of Sara-
toga. Associated with this valley in the grant of
Congress to California for public purposes are four

sections of land, about thirty miles distant from
it, on which stand, iu the midst of a forest com-
posed of the usual trees and shrubs of the west-
ern slope of the Sierra Nevada, about six hun-
dred mature trees of the giant Sequoia. Among
them is one known through numerous paintings and
photographs as the Grizzly Giant, which probably

is the noblest tree in the world. Besides this, there
are hundreds of such beauty and stateliness that, to
one who moves among them in the reverent mood
to which they so strongly incite the mind, it will
not seem strange that intelligent travellers have de-
clared that they would rather have passed by Nia-
gara itself than have missed visiting this grove. In
the region intermediate between the two districts
the scenery generally is of a grand character, con-
sisting of granite mountains and a forest composed
mainly of coniferous trees of great size, yet often
more perfect, vigorous, and luxurious than trees of
half the size are ever found on the Atlantic side of
the continent. It is not, however, in its grandeur
or in its forest beauty that the attraction of this in-
termediate region consists, so much a 3 in the
more secluded charms of some of its glens,
formed by mountain torrents fed from the
snow banks of the higher Sierras. These
have worn deep and picturesque channels in
the granite rocks, and in the moist shadows of their
recesses grow tender plants of rare and peculiar
loveliness. The broad and parachute-like leaves of
the peltate saxifrage, delicate ferns, soft mosses,
and the most brilliant lichens abound, and in fol-
lowing up the ravines, cabinet pictures open at
every turn, which, while composed of materials
mainly new to the artist, constantly recall the most
valued sketches of Calaine in the Alps and Apennines.
The difference in the elevation of different parts
of the district amounts to considerably more than a
mile. Owing to this difference and the great variety
of exposure and other circumstances there is a larger
number ofb€pecies of plants within the district than
Probably can be found within a similar space any-
where on the continent. Professor Torrey, who
has given the received botanical names to several
hundred plants of California, states that on the space
of a few acres of meadow land he found about three
hundred species, and that within sight of the trail
usually followed by visitors, at least six hundred
may be observed, most of them being small and
delicate flowering plants. By no statement of the
elem.-ets of the scenery can any idea of that scenery
be given, any more than a true impression cAn be
conveyed of a hum In face by a measured account of
its features. It is c inceivable that any one or all of
the cliffs of the Yo Semite might be changed in form
and colour, withoutlesseningthe enjoyment which is
now obtained from the scenery. Nor is this en-
joyment any more essentially derived from its
meadows, its trees and streams ; least of all can it
be attributed to the cascades. These, indeed, are
scarcely to be named among the elements of the
scenery. They are mere incidents, of far less
consequence any day of the summer than the

imperceptible humidity of the atmosphere and
the soil. The chasms remain when they are dry,
and the scenery may be, and often is, more effec-
tive, by reason of some temporary condition of the
air, of clouds, of moonlight, or of sunlight through
mist or smoke, in the season when the cascades
attract the least attention, than when their volume
of water is largest and their roar like constant
thunder. There are falls of water elsewhere finer,
there are •more stupendous rocks, more beetling
cliff 4, there are deeper and more awful chasms, there
may be as beautiful streams, as lovely meadows,
there are larger trees. It is in no scene or scenes
the charm consists, but in the miles of scenery,
where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast
' magnitude and of varied and exquisite colouring,
and banked and fringed, draped and shadowed by
the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and
bushes, reflected from the most placid pools, and
associated with the most tranquil meadows, the
most playful streams, and every variety of soft
and peaceful pastoral beauty. This union of the
deepest sublimity with the deepest beauty of nature,
not in one feature or another, not in one part or
one scene or another, not any landscape that can
be framed by itself, but all around and wherever
the visitor goes, constitutes the Yo Semite the
greatest glory of nature. No photograph or series
of photographs or paintings, ever prepare a visitor
so that he is not taken by surprise, for could the
scenes be faithfully represented, the visitor is affected
not only by that upon which his eye is at any
moment fixed, but by all that with which on every
side it is associated, and of which it is seen only as
an inherent part. For the same reason no de-
scription, no measurements, no comparisons, are of
much value. Indeed, the attention called by these
to points in some definite way remarkable, by fixing
the mind on mere matters of wonder or curiosity,
prevent the true and far more extraordinary cha-
racter of the scenery from being appreciated.