ilent amazement, feeling that he was indeed in
the presence of the Queen of the Forest. It was a pine which towered to
a height of certainly not less than three hundred and sixty feet, and,
after careful measurement, was found to be ninety-three feet in
circumference. In regarding this tree as the Queen, Frank was doubly
correct, for the natives styled it the "Mother of the Forest." The bark
of it, to the height of a hundred and sixteen feet, was, in after years,
carried to England, and built up in its original form in the Crystal
Palace of Sydenham. It was unfortunately destroyed in the great fire
which a few years ago consumed a large part of that magnificent
building.

But this was not the only wonderful sight that was seen that day. After
Frank had finished his drawing, and added it to a portfolio which was
already well filled, he fired a shot to recall his nautical comrade and
the vaquero. They soon rejoined him, and, continuing their journey,
came to a waterfall which, in some respects, excelled that of the
far-famed Niagara itself.

It had sounded like murmuring thunder in their ears the greater part of
that day, and as they approached it the voice of its roar became so
deafening that they were prepared for something unusually grand, but not
for the stupendous sight and sound that burst upon them when, on turning
round the base of a towering precipice, they came suddenly in full view
of one of the most wonderful of the Creator's works in that land.

A succession of wall-like mountains rose in two tiers before them into
the clouds. Some of the lower clouds floated far below the highest
peaks. From the summit of the highest range, a river, equal to the
Thames at Richmond, dropt sheer down a precipice of more than two
thousand feet. Here it met the summit of the lower mountain-range, on
which it burst with a deep-toned sullen roar, comparable only to eternal
thunder. A white cloud of spray received the falling river in its soft
embrace, and sent it forth again, turbulent and foam-bespeckled, towards
its second leap,--another thousand feet,--into the plain below. The
entire height of this fall was above three thousand feet!

Our hero was of course anxious to make a careful drawing of it, but
having already exhausted the greater part of the day, he was fain to
content himself with a sketch, after making which they pushed rapidly
forward, and encamped for the night, still within sight and sound of the
mi