an a river of ice, being nearly half as wide as it was long. Its
greatest length was about ten miles, and its depth perhaps nowhere much
exceeded 1000 feet. Its chief fountains, ranged along the west side of
the Merced group, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, gave birth to
fine tributaries that flowed in a westerly direction, and united in the
center of the basin. The broad trunk at first poured northwestward, then
curved to the northward, deflected by the lofty wall forming its western
bank, and finally united with the grand Yosemite trunk, opposite Glacier
Point.

All the phenomena relating to glacial action in this basin are
remarkably simple and orderly, on account of the sheltered positions
occupied by its ice-fountains, with reference to the disturbing effects
of larger glaciers from the axis of the main Range earlier in the
period. From the eastern base of the Starr King cone you may obtain
a fine view of the principal moraines sweeping grandly out into the
middle of the basin from the shoulders of the peaks, between which the
ice-fountains lay. The right lateral of the tributary, which took its
rise between Red and Merced Mountains, measures two hundred and fifty
feet in height at its upper extremity, and displays three well-defined
terraces, similar to those of the south Lyell Glacier. The comparative
smoothness of the upper-most terrace shows that it is considerably more
ancient than the others, many of the boulders of which it is composed
having crumbled. A few miles to the westward, this moraine has an
average slope of twenty-seven degrees, and an elevation above the bottom
of the channel of six hundred and sixty feet. Near the middle of the
main basin, just where the regularly formed medial and lateral moraines
flatten out and disappear, there is a remarkably smooth field of gravel,
planted with arctostaphylos, that looks at the distance of a mile like
a delightful meadow. Stream sections show the gravel deposit to be
composed of the same material as the moraines, but finer, and more
water-worn from the action of converging torrents issuing from the
tributary glaciers after the trunk was melted. The southern boundary of
the basin is a strikingly perfect wall, gray on the top, and white down
the sides and at the base with snow, in which many a crystal brook takes
rise. The northern boundary is made up of smooth undulating masses of
gray granite, that lift here and there into beautiful domes of which
the