Soon after dawn a thunderstorm broke over the valley, hail and torrents of rain, and the landlord congratulated us upon the cooling effect it would have on the air, and on the absence of dust, which is rather troublesome at times. It was necessary to make an early start in the morning, for it is a long journey to the Yosemite. For some years past the Valley has become a kind of American Chamouni, and if Americans swarm over Europe in search of the sublime and beautiful, they cannot be accused of neglecting altogether their own country. The first thing I saw, on walking out on the verandah of the hotel, was the stage-coach and six horses, with eight ladies and nine gentlemen, loading up for the Valley. They had arrived late the night before, a little in advance of us, and yet the ladies, bravely attired for the road, were all in their place in the _char à bancs_ long before 7. Travellers frequently stay at Bruce's, and our host promises good sport to any one who will make it his headquarters; but I cannot speak with any confidence on that point myself; still I should think it a very pleasant quarter for a man who had nothing else to do, and who had an aptitude for climbing, to go about looking out big game. We heard talk of pheasants, but saw none: the bird which is called by that name not being entitled to it, according to ornithologists. In front of the hotel was laid out the skin of a cinnamon bear, which had been shot by an Austrian gentleman--"Count Fritz Thumb," the landlord called him--a few days previously, and which was to be sent after him as a trophy of his skill. "But," says Boniface, "it was not he shot him at all; it was 'is old Injun hunter." Grizzlies, he said, were rare, but they were to be found if you went up high enough, and as he spoke he pointed up to the mountains towering away in the distance in grand Alpine proportions. Deer were common enough, and there were some tame specimens of the ordinary black deer running about in the enclosure. We had an early start, but not quite so early as the Americans; and it was wonderful how well our four hardy horses did the first stage, six and twenty miles, including some very sharp ascents from the Hotel.