At the time of this interesting discovery I was
exploring the _neve_ amphitheaters of the group, and tracing the
courses of the ancient glaciers that once poured from its ample
fountains through the Illilouette Basin and the Yosemite Valley, not
expecting to find any active glaciers so far south in the land of
sunshine.
Beginning on the northwestern extremity of the group, I explored the
chief tributary basins in succession, their moraines, roches moutonnees,
and splendid glacier pavements, taking them in regular succession
without any reference to the time consumed in their study. The monuments
of the tributary that poured its ice from between Red and Black
Mountains I found to be the most interesting of them all; and when I saw
its magnificent moraines extending in majestic curves from the spacious
amphitheater between the mountains, I was exhilarated with the work that
lay before me. It was one of the golden days of the Sierra Indian
summer, when the rich sunshine glorifies every landscape however rocky
and cold, and suggests anything rather than glaciers. The path of the
vanished glacier was warm now, and shone in many places as if washed
with silver.
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