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Steep Trails-Part16_John Muir(1838-1914)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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in one continuous belt. Indeed, viewed comprehensively, the entire

State seems to be pretty evenly divided into mountain ranges covered



with nut pines and plains covered with sage--now a swath of pines

stretching from north to south, now a swath of sage; the one black,



the other gray; one severely level, the other sweeping on complacently

over ridge and valley and lofty crowning dome.



The real character of a forest of this sort would never be guessed by

the inexperiencedobserver. Traveling across the sage levels in the



dazzling sunlight, you gaze with shaded eyes at the mountains rising

along their edges, perhaps twenty miles away, but no invitation that



is at all likely to be understood is discernible. Every mountain,

however high it swells into the sky, seem utterly barren. Approaching



nearer, a low brushy growth is seen, strangely black in aspect, as

though it had been burned. This is a nut pine forest, the bountiful



orchard of the red man. When you ascend into its midst you find the

ground beneath the trees, and in the openings also, nearly naked, and



mostly rough on the surface--a succession of crumbling ledges of lava,

limestones, slate, and quartzite, coarsely strewn with soil weathered



from the. Here and there occurs a bunch of sage or linosyris, or a

purple aster, or a tuft of dry bunch-grass.



The harshest mountainsides, hot and waterless, seem best adapted to

the nut pine's development. No slope is too steep, none too dry;



every situation seems to be gratefully chosen, if only it be

sufficiently rocky and firm to afford secure anchorage for the tough,



grasping roots. It is a sturdy, thickset little tree, usually about

fifteen feet high when full grown, and about as broad as high, holding



its knotty branches well out in every direction in stiff zigzags, but

turning them gracefullyupward at the ends in rounded bosses. Though



making so dark a mass in the distance, the foliage is a pale grayish

green, in stiff, awl-shaped fascicles. When examined closely these



round needles seem inclined to be two-leaved, but they are mostly held

firmly together, as if to guard against evaporation. The bark on the



older sections is nearly black, so that the boles and branches are

clearly traced against the prevailing gray of the mountains on which



they delight to dwell.

The value of this species to Nevada is not easily overestimated. It



furnishes fuel, charcoal, and timber for the mines, and, together with

the enduring juniper, so generally associated with it, supplies the



ranches with abundance of firewood and rough fencing. Many a square

mile has already been denuded in supplying these demands, but, so



great is the area covered by it, no appreciable loss has as yet been

sustained. It is pretty generally known that this tree yields edible



nuts, but their importance and excellence as human food is infinitely

greater than is supposed. In fruitful seasons like this one, the pine



nut crop of Nevada is, perhaps, greater than the entire wheat crop of

California, concerning which so much is said and felt throughout the



food markets of the world.

The Indians alone appreciate this portion of Nature's bounty and



celebrate the harvest home with dancing and feasting. The cones,

which are a bright grass-green in color and about two inches long by



one and a half in diameter, are beaten off with poles just before the

scales open, gathered in heaps of several bushels, and lightly



scorched by burning a thin covering of brushwood over them. The

resin, with which the cones are bedraggled, is thus burned off, the



nuts slightly roasted, and the scales made to open. Then they are

allowed to dry in the sun, after which the nuts are easily thrashed



out and are ready to be stored away. They are about half an inch long

by a quarter of an inch in diameter, pointed at the upper end, rounded



at the base, light brown in general color, and handsomely dotted with

purple, like birds' eggs. The shells are thin, and may be crushed



between the thumb and finger. The kernels are white and waxy-looking,




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