約翰‧繆爾
(JOHN MUIR)

加利福尼亞的山
The Mountains of California

我為謝拉山脈的壯麗景色而歡欣、驚歎……在謝拉山中度過了十年之後，我依然覺得萊特嶺是我所見過的大山中最美麗的山嶺。

任何懷疑文章威力的人，只要想想約翰‧繆爾(1838－1914)所取得的成就，就會相信了。繆爾出生在蘇格蘭，1849年隨家人移居威斯康辛州。他上過威斯康辛大學，早年致力於機械發明，在一次事故中，幾乎失去了一隻眼晴，後來改行了。繆爾成了熱情洋溢的自然主義者，對森林、山嶽、冰川尤其熱愛。他曾從中西部徒步旅行到墨西哥灣，邊旅行邊做筆記。1868年當他三十歲時，他在加利福尼亞第一次看到了內華達山脈，並為其景色所傾倒。

他走遍了西部各州，觀察該地區的自然生活，並按目錄分門別類，加以描述。他把許多充滿感情的觀察記錄寫成了隨筆和雜誌文章。他敦促聯邦政府採取森林保護區政策，保護自然資源不受開發。由於他所開展的運動，1890年美國政府建立了塞闊亞國家公園和優勝美地國家公園。

1892年繆爾創建了謝拉俱樂部，該俱樂部將繆爾對大自然的熱情化作全國性的運動。繆爾激發了西奧多‧羅斯福總統對資源保護區的興趣，l903年羅斯福總統和繆爾一起在優勝美地野營。1908年美國國家公園管理部門接受了舊金山北面一大片紅杉原始森林的捐贈，為了表達人們對繆爾的敬意，這片原始森林被命名為繆爾國家林帶。

1894年出版的《加利福尼亞的山》是繆爾的第一部書。書中沒有任何倡議，而是充滿了他對所深愛的景色的準確而又充滿活力的描寫。該書一問世就獲得了成功，它使自然資源保護者的隊伍速壯大，成了繆爾對他所熱愛並致力拯救的山嶽的永久見證。

……穿過海岸山嶺彎彎曲曲的小道，來到了深山之中，站在與舊金山遙遙相望的高山之巔或狹隘的山口，明麗的春光下，展現在眼前的是一幅錦繡的加州全景畫卷。腳下是沐浴著金色陽光的森特瓦爾利山谷，谷底寬闊平坦，百花盛開，像湖床般的一大片沃土向南北鋪展直至天際。山谷東部邊緣上聳立著數英里高的謝拉山，它氣勢磅 礡，橫臥在山谷邊上，猶如停留在晴空中的一塊平靜的積雲。它的色彩是那麼壯麗輝煌，那麼燦爛奪目，不由地使人感到它不是披上了一層金光，而本身就是一團光，像天國的城牆一般放射出萬道光芒。山頂部 覆蓋著銀白色的積雪，積雪地帶下面是呈藍色和暗紫色的地帶，那是森林的延伸，沿著山嶺基部有一條呈玫瑰紫和黃色的地帶，那兒有礦工們的采金地和山腳花園。這些彩色地帶和諧地交織在一起，形成了一堵美如彩虹、堅如磐石、光芒四射的城牆，其光彩之絢麗令人感到無法用言語表達。

我在春光明媚的四月，從帕切利山口的頂峰第一回欣賞這壯觀的景色。幾乎還沒被人們踐踏或開墾過的森特瓦爾利山谷中盛開著一片毛絨絨金燦燦的野菊花，邊緣上的山嶽形成的彩牆光輝奪目。那時我似乎覺得謝拉山脈不應該被叫做內華達山脈或雪嶺，而應叫做萊特嶺*。我為謝拉山脈的壯麗景色而歡欣、驚歎。我沐浴在光華之中，觀賞清晨雪峰上的日出、午時樹木、岩石和積雪的輝映，黃昏斜陽的餘暉，還有那飛流直下水花四濺的瀑布。在謝拉山中度過了十年之後，我依然覺得萊特嶺是我所見過的大山中最美麗的山嶺。

謝拉山脈綿延五百英里，寬達七十英里，山峰高度為七千至一萬五千英尺。山中一般看不到人類留下的痕跡，也沒有任何特徵能使人們聯想起其動植物資源之豐富或讓人感到其地質結構之深邃綺麗。森林覆蓋的山脊連綿起伏，沒有一處上升到足夠的高度向人們顯示其財寶之豐富。在山中，人們看不到遼闊的山谷，浩渺的湖泊或奔騰的大河，也看不到任何顯著的群體特徵，連輪廓清晰、高聳入雲的頂峰也顯得相當平滑，毫無特色。可是，就在山峰附近，冰川依然在活動著。山下成千上萬湖泊閃閃發光，湖邊低草地上野花盛開。整個山脈溝蜜縱橫、深度達二千至五千英尺，壯觀的冰川曾經從這些峽谷中流過，如今幾條美麗的小河在峽谷中潺潺地盡情流淌。

這些著名的峽谷雖然深度驚人，卻不是陰冷潮濕、昏暗無光、溝壁凹凸不平而又險峻難達的峽谷。由於峽谷中到處佈滿崎嘔不平的小道，它們依然是登山運動員們從肥沃的低地通往結冰的源頭所喜歡選擇的路線。這些由古代冰川開鑿鋪築的山路上充滿了迷人的生機光彩。一路上映入眼簾的是各種各樣奇異迷人的風光－迄今為止在全世界山脈中所見到的最迷人的風光。

在許多地方，尤其是在山脈中段的西側，主峽谷漸漸開闊起來，形成寬闊的山谷或園林。山谷裏遍佈美麗的小樹林、草場和鮮花盛開的灌木叢，猶如一座座人工建造的風景園林。那高高的向兩側隱退而去的峽壁形狀結構各異，溝壁上無數狹窄的臺階上長滿了蕨類植物、各種開花的植物、橡樹和冬青。歡快的溪流使景色更加動人，充滿活力。小溪從陽光照耀下的懸崖上飛流而下，濺起水花，彙入峽谷中靜靜地流淌著的小河。

這些優勝美地型的園林式峽谷的溝壁是由巨大如山的岩石構成的，而在一定程度上又被溝壑和小峽谷隔開。岩石的正面陡峭，一塊緊挨著另一塊，屹立在平地上。從整體上看起來，這些岩石圍起的園地就像從頂部採光照明的大禮堂或寺廟。每一塊岩石似乎都富有生命力，有的向後傾斜，泰然自若，有的拔地而起數千英尺，高於它們的夥伴，垂直或近乎垂直地聳立著，彷彿深陷在沈思之中，對風暴和平靜一概表示歡迎。它們表面上看起來神志清醒，卻又對周圍的一切無動於衷，莊嚴中帶有柔美，永恆中卻又顯出變幻。它們屹立在松林中或座落在草地上，崖頂聳入雲端，沐浴在陽光和流水之中，崖頂四周白雲飄繞，積雪閃光，山風吹拂，大自然似乎使出了最上乘的法寶，來把她的情人拉到自己的懷抱，吐露鍾情。

* 「萊待嶺」系音譯，意為「光之嶺」

Making your way through the mazes of the Coast Range to the summit of any of the inner peaks or passes opposite San Francisco, in the clear springtime, the grandest and most telling of all California landscapes is outspread before you. At your feet lies the great Central Valley glowing golden in the sunshine, extending north and south farther than the eye can reach, one smooth, flowery, lake-like bed of fertile soil. Along its eastern margin rises the mighty Sierra, miles in height, reposing like a smooth, cumulous cloud in the sunny sky, and so gloriously colored, and so luminous, it seems to be not clothed with light, but wholly composed of it, like the wall of some celestial city. Along the top, and extending a good way down, you see a pale, pearl-gray belt of snow; and below it a belt of blue and dark purple, marking the extension of the forests; and along the base of the range a broad belt of rose-purple and yellow, where lie the miner's goldfields and the foot-hill gardens. All these colored belts blending smoothly make a wall of light ineffably fine, and as beautiful as a rainbow, yet firm as adamant.

    When I first enjoyed this superb view, one glowing April day, from the summit of the Pacheco Pass, the Central Valley, but little trampled or plowed as yet, was one furred, rich sheet of golden compositae, and the luminous wall of the mountains shone in all its glory. Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada, or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light. And after ten years spent in the heart of it, rejoicing and wondering, bathing in its glorious floods of light, seeing the sunbursts of morning among the icy peaks, the noonday radiance on the trees and rocks and snow, the flush of the alpenglow, and a thousand dashing waterfalls with their marvelous abundance of irised spray, it still seems to me above all others the Range of Light, the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain-chains I have ever seen.

    The Sierra is about $00 miles long, 70 miles wide, and from 7000 to nearly 15,000 feet high. In general view's no mark of man is visible on it, nor anything to suggest the richness of the life it cherishes, or the depth and grandeur of its sculpture. None of its magnificent forest-crowned ridges rises much above the general level to publish its wealth. No great valley or lake is seen, or river, or group of well-marked features of any kind, standing out in distinct pictures. Even the summit-peaks, so clear and high in the sky, seem comparatively smooth and featureless. Nevertheless, glaciers are still at work in the shadows of the peaks, and thousands of lakes and meadow's shine and bloom beneath them, and the whole range is furrowed with canons to a depth of from 2000 to 5000 feet, in which once flowed majestic glaciers, and in which now flow and sing a band of beautiful rivers.

    Though of such stupendous depth, these famous canons are not raw, gloomy, jagged-walled gorges, savage and inaccessible. With rough passages here and there they still make delightful pathways for the mountaineer, conducting from the fertile lowlands to the highest icy fountains, as a kind of mountain streets full of charming  life and light, graded and sculptured by the ancient glaciers, and presenting, throughout all their courses, a rich variety of novel and attractive scenery, the most attractive that has yet been discovered in the mountain-ranges of the world.

    In many places, especially in the middle region of the western flank of the range, the main canons widen into spacious valleys or parks, diversified like artificial landscape-gardens, with charming groves and meadows, and thickets of blooming bushes, while the lofty, retiring walls, infinitely varied in form and sculpture, are fringed with ferns, flowering-plants of many species, oaks, and evergreens, which find anchorage on a thousand narrow steps and benches; while the whole is enlivened and made glorious with rejoicing streams that come dancing and foaming over the sunny brows of the cliffs to join the shining river that flows in tranquil beauty down the middle of each one of them.

    The walls of these park valleys of the Yosernite kind are made up of rocks mountains in size, partly separated from each other by narrow gorges and side-canons; and they are so sheer in front, and so compactly built together on a level floor, that, comprehensively seen, the parks they inclose look like immense halls or temples lighted from above. Every rock seems to glow with life. Some lean back in majestic repose; others, absolutely sheer, or nearly so, for thousands of feet, advance their brows in thoughtful attitudes beyond their companions, giving welcome to storms and calms alike, seemingly conscious yet heedless of everything going on about them, awful in stern majesty, types of permanence, yet associated with beauty of the frailest and most fleeting forms; their feet set in pine groves and gay emerald meadows, their brows in the sky; bathed in light, bathed in floods of singing water, while snow-clouds, avalanches, and the winds shine and surge and wreathe about them as the years go by, as if into these mountain mansions Nature had taken pains to gather their choicest treasures to draw her lovers into close and confiding communion with her....