itor's stay there, besides enabling tens of thousands
of people to see it who cannot stand the fatigue of the stage ride over
the present road. The Yosemite will remain as it is. The simplicity of
its grand features is unassailable so long as the Government protects
the forests that surround it and the streams that pour into it. The
visitor who goes there by rail will find plenty of adventure for days
and weeks in following the mountain trails, ascending to the great
points of view, exploring the canons, or climbing so as to command the
vast stretch of the snowy Sierras. Or, if he is not inclined to
adventure, the valley itself will satisfy his highest imaginative
flights of the sublime in rock masses and perpendicular ledges, and his
sense of beauty in the graceful water-falls, rainbow colors, and
exquisite lines of domes and pinnacles. It is in the grouping of objects
of sublimity and beauty that the Yosemite excels. The narrow valley,
with its gigantic walls, which vary in every change of the point of
view, lends itself to the most astonishing scenic effects, and these the
photograph has reproduced, so that the world is familiar with the
striking features of the valley, and has a tolerably correct idea of the
sublimity of some of these features. What the photograph cannot do is to
give an impression of the unique grouping, of the majesty, and at times
crushing weight upon the mind of the forms and masses, of the
atmospheric splendor and illusion, and of the total value of such an
assemblage of wonders. The level surface of the peaceful, park-like
valley has much to do with the impression. The effect of El Capitan,
seen across a meadow and rising from a beautiful park, is much greater
than if it were encountered in a savage mountain gorge. The traveller
may have seen elsewhere greater water-falls, and domes and spires of
rock as surprising, but he has nowhere else seen such a combination as
this. He may be fortified against surprise by the photographs he has
seen and the reports of word painters, but he will not escape (say, at
Inspiration Point, or Artist Point, or other lookouts), a quickening of
the pulse and an elation which is physical as well as mental, in the
sight of such unexpected sublimity and beauty. And familiarity will
scarcely take off the edge of his delight, so varied are the effects in
the passing hours and changing lights. The Rainbow Fall, when water is
abundant, is exceedingly impressive as well as