That is grand! Probably it is the most remarkable and impressive view to be obtained of any cliff in the world. We are directly in front of the eastern side of El Capitan, and half a mile from it, and the earth at our feet is carpeted with blue gentians and daisies, while breadths of purple heathworts swathe the meadows, and all around the rose, the laurel, the lupine and the honeysuckle attract the humming-bird, and butterflies of gorgeous hues and erratic movements, chase the noonday sun. The Merced River slides by at our feet, scarce more disturbed at this point by the impact of its own turbulent tributaries than is the Hudson. Down into its glassy depths sinks the reflection of the pines whose feet it laps, and back of its sand-like farther shore rises, as it were, out of the flood, mighty El Capitan! […]
From: Charles Quincy Turner, Yosemite Valley Through the Stereoscope, Underwood & Underwood, New York, 1902, p. 27.
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