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Show THE WONDERS OF CALIFORNIA. 153 with guide in front, finding the first mile and a half to Prospect Peak not particularly difficult. A sudden turn brings us in view of the valley, but little is to be seen as yet; then we emerge from the timber upon a shelving rock, and the guide stops for us to take our first view at Prospect Peak. We walked out upon the rock, which becomes level as we near the edge, with a feeling of disappointment ; but suddenly, when far enough to see below, we paused and trem-bled. Astonishment and awe kept us silent for a moment. At our feet yawned a chasm bounded on this side by a precipice with sheer descent of near two thousand feet ; on the other a mist- enveloped cascade poured from heights so high and dim, that to our eyes it seemed tumbling from the clouds. Far, far below, the Merced foamed through the rocky gateway which forms the outlet of the val-ley, while the whole wall below us seemed fringed with pines, jut-ting from every crevice, and growing apparently straight into the air from the solid wall of rock. We turn again to the left into a sort of stairway in the mountain side, and cautiously tread the stony defile downward; at places over loose boulders, at others around or over the points of shelving rock, where one false step would send horse and rider a mangled mass two thousand feet below, and more rarely over ground covered with bushes and grade moderate enough to afford a brief rest. It is im-possible to repress fear. Every nerve is tense; the muscles involun-tarily make ready for a spring, and even the bravest lean timorously toward the mountain side and away from the cliff, with foot loose in stirrup and eye alert, ready for a spring in case of peril. The thought is vain : should the horse go, the rider would infallibly go with him. And the poor brutes seem to fully realize their danger and ours, as with wary steps and tremulous ears, emitting almost human sighs, with more than brute caution they deliberately place one foot before the other, calculating seemingly at each step the desperate chances, and intensely conscious of our mutual peril. We learn with surprise that of all the thousands who have made this passage, not one has been injured. Such a route would be impassable to any horse but these mountain- trained mustangs, to whom a broken stone staircase would be as safe as a macadamized road. At last comes a gentler slope, then a crystal spring, dense grove and grassy plat, and we are down into the valley. Gladly we take the stage, and are whirled along in the gathering twilight. To our right, Bridal Vail Fall, shedding a brilliant sheen in the twilight; further up Inspiration Point, and to the left El Capitan rearing his |