The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-12-12

chanting as of cid in the temple ser
/ vice:
'In HIS hand are the deep places Of thu
The sire 9Th OF the hills is His also''
There are but eight persons IN on
company, yet we Join IN singing DC
| Hundred. How significant The only
fitting choir would be that OF the
whole church militant, singing the
closing chorus of HANDLES Messiah
from his Halielujoh st1nd point.
OUR STOPPING PLACE.
We have been fortunate enough to
have the company of Mr.. Hutchings
| during our ride, who lives In the
valley, and who is favorably known
to the public as author of volume
entitled Scenes, Wonders and Curl
osities Of California" and who, In
| former years, established and con
Quoted the California Magazine. He
has pointed out to Us the features of
the valley and the surrounding noun
tains, and now we find hOspita bic ac-
commodations beneath his roof on
the banks of the MERGED A nights
rest, trout and veuison, black berries
and cream, and water pure as ever
distilled from the dews of heaven,
and we are ready to go out and ex-
anime in detail the stupendous pro-
portions of this chasm. We do not
propose to take quite so hasty view
as that made by Horace Greeley. who
arrived in the valley at midnight,
holding on, as the story goes, TO the
pommei of the saddle with one hand
and the crupper with the other-so
stiff and sore that he was Obliged to
be lifted from the saddle. He re-
manned till one O'Clock the next day,
looking up through his spectacles to
the cliffs, then took his departure and
wrote description of the valley, pro-
nounciag the Yosemite Falls hum
bugl
THE YOSEMITE FALLS.
They are situated near the middle
Of the valley, upon the northern side.
They are in full view from my win
dow. There are three falls, with two
intervening cascades. The lower fall
has a perpendicular descent of about
400 feet, the middle one and the cas-
cades descent of 700 feet, the upper
one perpendicular descent Of 1900
feet, the entire distance about 1900
feet. 1t seems but a short distance
up to the place where the misty trail
of the upper fall sweeps the rocky
shelf, but before starting to climb
tbltEer, fill your pockets with bread
and cheese, Tor hour after hour will
slip away before you can reach it; but
when there, you may stand behind
the veil aud look down upon this
cathedral floor, through circling rain
bows. Or you may sit here beneath
the mighty pines and never grow
weary with gazing upon the over
descending stream, swayed by the
wind of its own creation; sheet of
molten silver pouring over the cliff,
changing to lanees of light, crumbling
into crystals and dissolving in star
dust.
Crossing the MERGED. so clear that
we can almost count the glittering
sands at the bottom of its deepest
channel, following a footpath over
the meadows and beneath old oaks
and pines, we reach the foot of the
lower fall, finding a seat on block of
granite as big as a country farm house,
which has fallen two thirds of mile
from the cliff above u.s.. Pick out the
tallest pine, measure its haght by the
eye. then set it against the cliff and
see how little way it reaches up. It
is no more than a yard stick against
the pine itself, or the highest reach
of the appraised arm of child against
a church steeplel 1t is only by some
such standard that we can cOmpre-
bend the hight of these walls.
In the Spring of the year, when the
rains and the sun dissolve the snow
upon the mountains, this cataract is
an hundred times more majestic than
now. We have evidence of the power
of its might in the great powders of
granite around US, larger than a thirty
ton locomotive, which, in years gone
by, came laundering down the dizzy
hight, swapping the largest pines and
frs as if they were bat pipe stems,
crushing and grinding the rocks be-
meath to powder. So the Almighty
sets the forces of nature to grinding
the solid granite into -four for human
food-the River of Mercy" waiting
il out upon the meadows, to be trans
muted by golden sunlight and mighty
dews into ripened wheat and purpling
grapes.
Science is at a loss to account for
the formation of this abyss. Was it
chiseled out? Then what became of
the chips? Or was there falling in
of the bottOm-a giving way of the
prop beneath? Omnipotent might
alone could rend these miles of solid
rock as. if they had no more tenacity
than pipe clayl-the same Omnipo-
tence which shields the sparrow and
crowns the years with goodness.
Ell CAPTAIN.
We stroll down to the entrance of
the valley and stand at the feet of the
FL Captain. The Indian name was
Tic toch-ar at-lGh-the Great Chief.
The valley is scarcely half 4 mile
wide at this point. yet the Captain
has stature of more than four thou
sand feet. If an earthquake were to
make him unsteady on bis legs, he
would reel like drunken man over
upon the Three Graces," upon the
opposite side of the valley. The Cap
itan has not room enough to lie down
He is as badly off as the tall traveller
from Indiana who took lodgings In a
small bed chamber In the city, and
was obliged to find room for his legs
out of the window Climbing up over
the stones a few feet, we may lay our
hands upon the precipice, which rises
with scarcely a seam or issurel Co
ing round by the Caulterville trail,
we might after hours of uneasy riding
gain the summit, and, if our brain
was steady enough, lie down upon the
edge of the cliff and drop a pebble
upon the spot where we now stand
so sharp and sseer the precipice.
Po-HO-NO.
Opposite, upon the south side of
the valley, is Po-ho-ne, the Wind
Spirit of the Indians, a stream of