January-May 1873, Yosemite Fall, Ice Cone, etc. Image 40

74 in the wall where I might shelter & from where I [might] rush out at an opportune moment when the fall together with all its trailing [ragged] skirts was carried westward leaving the east side & the ice [cone] bare in the sunlight. I had not long to wait [for] as if ordered for my special accomod. [accommodation] the mighty down rush of comets with all their whirling drapery snowy west & remained slant for nearly 1/2 hr The [cove] was admirably lighted deserted by the water most of [time] wh [which] fell on the west slope mostly outside the mouth. The mouth was apparently as near as I could judge about 100 feet diam [diameter] N [north] & S [south], about 200 E [east] & W [west] wh [which] is about the shape & size of the fall in its [purest] normal condition The mouth wh [which] is crater like with jagged lip is not a true oval, but like a huge coarse [human] mouth Could [see] into it 100 ft [or] [more] The last 400 ft of precipice over hangs 75 therefore the water falls a considerable distance from base [along] a great mass of [ice] [between] wall & fall [ ] [ ] & inflated like an immense bladder once spread thinly & evenly for a breadth of 1000 ft all year l [long] & deep tones hushed, [fell] gentle as [deer] Cause of variety of sounds Where the most beautiful portion of fall, why no basin at bottom Lay it [down] & examine [have] come forward Scenery of the fall In the days of hot sunshine in May & June In the bright season of May & June sunshine When the snow melts fast then the falls play their loudest music the [heavy] tones like muffled thunder claps occur at variable intervals & are readily heard at a distancehttps://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmj-all/1494/thumbnail.jp