New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-10-21
PLACES AND PEOPLE.
STUDIES OF NATURE AND MANKIND

STUDIES OF NATURE AND MANKIND
THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA. BY John
Muir The Century Company.
JOHN BULL CO. The Great Colonial RraH wnsF
of the Firm. By Max O'Re!a Char.es l.. wen
GLLMPsEs OF FOUR CONTINENTS BY the
Duchess OF Buckingham and Chandos Dodl'
Mead & Co.
AMONG THE TIBETANs BY Isabella Bird Bishop
Fleming RI. Revcll & Co
ACROSS ASIA on \ BLCYCLE BY Tnomis Gas
kell Allen. jr.. and William Lewis Sachtieben.
The Century Company.
To mention California is TO raise the concept
Of a sem-tropical country The first thought
~ that land is associated with orange groves
and vineyards Mr. Muir, however has studied
il in other moods To him II is the land once
covered " the ice-cap now shrunken almos'
entirely within the Arctic circle. the land OF
snow topped mountains and glacier-covered
valleys Between the Coast Range and the
Sierra Nevada lies the great central valley Of
California where are grown the wheat and the
fruits which are Of NOR" permanent beneht 10
the state than all the gold taken out OF It's
hills "A along it's margins rises the mighty
Sierra miles In height. rrposing like smooth
cumulus cloud in the sunny sky. and go glor-
ously colorcd and 50 luminous. II seems To he
not clothed with light but wholly composed Of
II, Ike Inc wall OF some tt!t>i!iI f4tN hh'HH
the top and extending a good way down. you
see pale. pcarl-gray belt Of snow and below
IT belt OF blue and dark purple. marking the
extension " the forests. and along the base "
the range a broad belt Of rosc-purplc and yell
low where lie the miners gold fields and the
foo,him gardens" Ten years spcrt among
these mountains have made the author familiar
with every mood - Nature there. He has
studied the retiring glaciers. the lakes left IN
their track the nllluC In Of these with glacial
drift. I'll meadows form and forests grow. He
has found illustrated every stage 81 the process
by which California In common with New-York
was tranformcd from n barren. cc-scourcd
land into a country Of lakes and woods and
rolling fields Tho first 81 the California glaciers
was discovered by Mr. Muir In the autumn Of
1871 1t was the Black Mountain Glacier. be-
tween Black and Red peaks. on the southeast
edge Of the Yosemite watershed. Since then
sixty-five have been found in the region be-
tween Whtney's Peak and Lake Tahoe Mount
Shasta has three glaciers. but Mount Whitney.
although 1t Is the highest mountain in the
range, does not now cherish a single glacier
Small patches Of lasting snow and Ice occur on
its northern slopes. but they are shallow and
present no well-marked evidence If glacial mo-
ton. It's sides. however. are scored and pol
ishcd in many places by the action II Its ancient
glaciers that flowed cas-, and west tributaries
OF the great glaciers that once filled the valleys
Of the Kern and Owens rivers" During the
winter the snowfall In the mountains Ia very
heavy; the great storms come at the end OF
November. covering the rivers with bridges
under which the swift current flows and on
which men ard horses may cross well into June
The lakes arc lost as we'll the rivers, and
many Of them are actually filed in by ava
lanches and do not get clear OF snow and Ice
until the end Of summer. Tossed about on the
mountains the large snow crystals get pulvcr-
lied into snow dust which In strong winds
sometimes produces a remarkable phenomenon.
The mountains are generally concavc both In
vertical ana horizontal sections to the north
ward and when the winds from that drec-
ton the snow dust Is frequently picked up by
the convergng currents and drawn In a FUN
mel to the peaks. and then thrown off again in
long white streaners. which wave unbroken
while the wind lasts.
The author IL botanist well az geolo-
gst. He pays particular attention to the forest
trees. He discusses at some length the Sc
quota big trees and reaches the conclusion
that in post cial times they were never more
numerous than they are now. 1t Is true that
the two surviving species a mere remnant Of
the greater number OF species which covered the
whole northern regions in Crctaceous times. and
doubtless the genus Is vcrglrg To extinction. But
that period Of degencracy has been tens OF thou
sands of years ana the remaining specimens
are multiplying faster than they are dying Off
so there Is reason 10 think that big trees may
be seen for some time come-or there would
be, were II not for the hand Of man. The mills
and the fres and the sheepmen may succeed in
quickly completing the work which Nature be-
gan when she hcwed down the Tertiary pine
gro"es with axes Of SNOW
The Australian who reads Max O'Rers book
Is likely to have much the same feeling that the
American OF an earlier generation had In perus-
Frenchman Is not at all delicate about exposing
his impressions of the crudeness ill-brcedng and
hypocrisy which he encountered In Great Brit
aims southern possessions. At the same time
he Is not i.-natured and gives due credit to the
good traits o: character and pleasing tural fea
lures which ne sees. Australia he thinks IL pro-
vincial. 1t Is following In the train of America
ana is a long distance behind. The roughness OF
manner, the narrowness Of intelligence the
youthful self-confdence. coupled with sensitive
ness to and resentment Of criticism. are in
creaslng!y less characteristic OF the United
States Those qualities a-e still to be seen IN
AUSTRALIA In the most irritating form. They
Impressed themselves with great force on the