Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/21



of later  times  sharply  reins  in  his  steed — if  so  be that  the  jaded  cayuse  requires  it — dismounts,  and stands on  Inspiration  point,  a  rocky  eminence  com- manding a partial  view  of  the  valley. Here every one who  writes  a  book  stands  spell-bound  as  if  in  the presence of  the  almighty,  beholds  a  new  heaven  and a new  earth,  feels  the  omnipotence  and  majesty  of the  infinite,  attempts  in  vain  to  give  his  vision  utter- ance, indulges in  a  sublime  fit  of  rhapsod}^,  and  then drops into  mesmeric  silence. Old life  and  ordinary emotions are  suspended,  and  a  new  tide  of  feeling rushes in  upon  the  soul. The mortal  part  of  man shrinks back,  and  the  immortal  prostrates  the  beholder before this  apparition  of  majesty  and  desolation.

Entering at  the  lower  end  by  the  Mariposa  trail,  a general  view  of  the  valley  is  obtained,  which  displays first, on  the  left,  the  granite-block  El  Capitan,  a smooth  seamless  battlement,  rising  clearly  cut  3,300 feet in  height;  and  on  the  right  the  Bridal  Veil  fall, a white  cascade  of  fluttering  gossamer,  leaping  from the western  edge  of  Cathedral  rock  630  feet,  when striking the  heaped-up  debris  at  the  base  of  the  cliff, it continues  in  a  series  of  cascades  300  feet  perpen- dicular to the  bottom,  where  it  flows  off"  in  ten  or twelve  streamlets.  Summer  dries  the  Virgfin's  Tears that  fall  opposite  the  Bridal  Veil,  for  their  source  is not  the  eternal  snow  of  the  high  sierra.  When  the stream  that  feeds  the  fall  runs  low,  nearly  all  the water  is  dissipated,  by  the  wind,  which  first  sways, then  scatters  it,  and  finally  breaks  it  into  quivering spray,  which  the  tardy  sun,  when  it  appears,  gilds with  rainbows.

Over the  floor  of  the  enclosure  is  spread  a  varie- gated carpet fit  for  a  palace  of  the  gods. Meadows of thick  grass  are  interspersed  with  flowers  and  flowering shrubs, and  fringed  with  thickets  of  manzanita,  alder, maple, and  laurel,  and  groves  of  oak,  cedar,  and  fir, with occasional  moss-covered  rocks,  marshes,  and patches of  sand;   while  high  up  on  the  battlement,