Partial liquefaction by pressure would enable a glacier in the Yosemite to conform to the inequalities of its configuration, and regelation would perhaps retard its flow sufficiently to enable the more rapid moving surface and center of the glacier to carry its burden on from above without marking the lower portion of the inclosing walls, as for instance, may be seen at Glacier Point. It has been suggested that “the immense weight of ice that once filled the Yosemite had an important part in the formation of it.” This idea is untenable, because the valley must have already been formed, in order for space to have existed for “the immense weight of ice;” and unless the earth’s crust under the valley was previously broken as suggested in the able theory of Prof. Whitney, no possible weight of any kind could exert a depressing influence upon the surface. If it were possible, for the reconciliation of geologists, to believe that the subsidence in the valley occurred at about the close of the glacial flow, thereby changing the appearance of the inclosing walls, yet still leaving material to fill the chasm, a great part of the mystery that will always remain as one of the “Wonders of the Yosemite,” would then disappear. As it is, we are compelled to believe, not in miracles, but that the glacier that flowed over the Yosemite was so great in depth as to leave, like some deep sea or ocean, its bottom undisturbed by the tumultuous aerial strife upon its surface. Now, those glacial heights have, at times, a solitude unutterly profound! Not a bird or beast to break the stillness, nor disturb the solemn charm. Nor does the Indian, even, loiter on his way, but hastens on down to his mountain meadows or wooded valleys. There, if anywhere, the poet’s idea can be realized, that: “Silence is the heart of all things; sound the fluttering of its pulse, Which the fever and the spasm of the universe convulse. Every sound that breaks the silence only makes it more profound, Like a crash of deafening thunder in the sweet, blue stillness drowned Let thy soul walk softly in thee, as a saint in heaven unshod, For to be alone with silence, is to be alone with God.” [Illustration: BIG TREE (Height, 325 feet; circumference, 100 feet.)] CHAPTER XXI. Big Trees of California or Sequoia Gigantea--Their Discovery and Classification. In speaking of the discovery of the “_Big Trees_” of Calavaras, Mr. Hutchings, in his “Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity,” says that: “In the spring of 1852 Mr. A. T. Doud, a hunter, was employed by the Union Water Company of Murphy’s camp, Calavaras county, to supply the workmen with fresh meat from the large quantity of game running wild on the upper portion of their works. Having wounded a bear, and while industriously following in pursuit, he suddenly came upon one of those immense trees that have since become so justly celebrated throughout the civilized world.