was nearly complete in California, the ice-mantle, wasting from
season to season faster than it was renewed, began to withdraw from the
lowlands and gradually became shallower everywhere. Then the highest
of the Sierra domes and dividing ridges, containing distinct glaciers
between them, began to appear above the icy sea. These first river-like
glaciers remained united in one continuous sheet toward the summit of
the Range for many centuries. But as the snow-fall diminished, and the
climate became milder, this upper part of the ice-sheet was also in
turn separated into smaller distinct glaciers, and these again into
still smaller ones, while at the same time all were growing shorter and
shallower, though fluctuations of the climate now and then occurred
that brought their receding ends to a standstill, or even enabled them
to advance for a few tens or hundreds of years.

Meanwhile, hardy, home-seeking plants and animals, after long waiting,
flocked to their appointed places, pushing bravely on higher and higher,
along every sun-warmed slope, closely following the retreating ice,
which, like shreds of summer clouds, at length vanished from the
new-born mountains, leaving them in all their main, telling features
nearly as we find them now.

Tracing the ways of glaciers, learning how Nature sculptures
mountain-waves in making scenery-beauty that so mysteriously influences
every human being, is glorious work.

The most striking and attractive of the glacial phenomena in the upper
Yosemite region are the polished glacier pavements, because they are so
beautiful, and their beauty is of so rare a kind, so unlike any portion
of the loose, deeply weathered lowlands where people make homes and earn
their bread. They are simply flat or gently undulating areas of hard
resisting granite, which present the unchanged surface upon which with
enormous pressure the ancient glaciers flowed. They are found in most
perfect condition in the subalpine region, at an elevation of from eight
thousand to nine thousand feet. Some are miles in extent, only slightly
interrupted by spots that have given way to the weather, while the best
preserved portions reflect the sunbeams like calm water or glass, and
shine as if polished afresh every day, notwithstanding they have been
exposed to corroding rains, dew, frost, and snow measureless thousands
of years.

The attention of wandering hunters and prospectors, who see so many
mountain wonders, is sel