depth of two thousand five hundred
and fifty feet. At this time it is about thirty-five feet wide by two or
three deep. The fall has almost the appearance of one grand shoot of
water, but it has, in reality, three divisions: the first is a descent
of fifteen hundred feet on a ledge (as it seems), though it is, in fact,
a shelf of rock, a third of a mile broad; then follow a series of
cascades for six hundred and twenty-five feet, and a final leap of four
hundred. There is water enough now to give a bright, foaming, grand
sweep of the whole cataract. It is certainly one of the most beautiful
objects the human eye can ever gaze upon! We never wearied of riding
out over the green meadows and gay, wild flowers to get some new aspect
of it.

The only fall to compare it with, that I have ever seen, is the Voering
Foss, in Norway. This is a fall of nine hundred and fifty feet, but the
water is so scanty that it is all resolved into wreaths of mist before
it reaches the bottom; and it makes but little impression on the mind,
compared with the Yosemite Fall. It is, moreover, confined in a narrow,
dark gorge, and must be seen usually from above. In seeing the
Californian fall, I did not even think of the Norwegian.

The amount of water, at this season, adds immensely to the cheerfulness
and life of the valley; but it also occasioned us a great deal of
trouble in getting round. We were mired several times, and twice one of
our ladies was thrown on the soft greensward.

But the scampering gallops through the groves under these grand scenes,
and the quiet amblings amid such beauty and sublimity, were pleasures
which nothing marred. In our rides down the canyon, we were struck by the
grand mass of the Sentinel Dome, four thousand one hundred and fifty
feet above the valley, and said to give the finest point of view in the
whole region round; the valley itself, it must be remembered, being over
four thousand feet above the sea-level. Then three-quarters of a mile
beyond is the majestic buttress of the Sentinel Rock, three thousand
feet high, of which a thousand feet is a smooth obelisk; opposite to
this are the Three Brothers, the highest three thousand eight hundred
and thirty feet, and each regularly lower than the next.

[Illustration: RED WOOD TREE, CALIFORNIA]

Then comes the Cathedral Rock, two thousand six hundred and sixty feet,
with two perfect spires, the most picturesque object in the valley; then
the exquisite Pohono,