Perhaps to get into the mood of the waterways one needs to have seen old Amos Judson asquat on the headgate with his gun, guarding his water-right toward the end of a dry summer. Amos owned the half of Tule Creek6 and the other half pertained7 to the neighboring Greenfields ranch8. Years of a "short water crop," that is, when too little snow fell on the high pine ridges9, or, falling, melted too early, Amos held that it took all the water that came down to make his half, and maintained it with a Winchester and a deadly aim. Jesus Montana, first proprietor10 of Greenfields,—you can see at once that Judson had the racial advantage,—contesting the right with him, walked into five of Judson's bullets and his eternal possessions on the same occasion. That was the Homeric age of settlement and passed into tradition. Twelve years later one of the Clarks, holding Greenfields, not so very green by now, shot one of the Judsons. Perhaps he hoped that also might become classic, but the jury found for manslaughter. It had the effect of discouraging the Greenfields claim, but Amos used to sit on the headgate just the same, as quaint11 and lone12 a figure as the sandhill crane watching for water toads13 below the Tule drop.
Every subsequent owner of Greenfields bought it with Amos in full view. The last of these was Diedrick. Along in August of that year came a week of low water. Judson's ditch failed and he went out with his rifle to learn why. There on the headgate sat Diedrick's frau with a long-handled shovel14 across her lap and all the water turned into Diedrick's ditch; there she sat knitting through the long sun, and the children brought out her dinner. It was all up with Amos; he was too much of a gentleman to fight a lady—that was the way he expressed it. She was a very large lady, and a long-handled shovel is no mean weapon. The next year Judson and Diedrick put in a modern water gauge15 and took the summer ebb16 in equal inches. Some of the water-right difficulties are more squalid than this, some more tragic17; but unless you have known them you cannot very well know what the water thinks as it slips past the gardens and in the long slow sweeps of the canal. You get that sense of brooding from the confined and sober floods, not all at once but by degrees, as one might become aware of a middle-aged19 and serious neighbor who has had that in his life to make him so. It is the repose20 of the completely accepted instinct.
With the water runs a certain following of thirsty herbs and shrubs21. The willows24 go as far as the stream goes, and a bit farther on the slightest provocation25. They will strike root in the leak of a flume, or the dribble26 of an overfull bank, coaxing27 the water beyond its appointed bounds. Given a new waterway in a barren land, and in three years the willows have fringed all its miles of banks; three years more and they will touch tops across it. It is perhaps due to the early usurpation28 of the willows that so little else finds growing-room along the large canals. The birch beginning far back in the canon tangles29 is more conservative; it is shy of man haunts and needs to have the permanence of its drink assured. It stops far short of the summer limit of waters, and I have never known it to take up a position on the banks beyond the ploughed lands. There is something almost like premeditation in the avoidance of cultivated tracts30 by certain plants of water borders. The clematis, mingling31 its foliage32 secretly with its host, comes down with the stream tangles to the village fences, skips over to corners of little used pasture lands and the plantations33 that spring up about waste water pools; but never ventures a footing in the trail of spade or plough; will not be persuaded to grow in any garden plot. On the other hand, the horehound, the common European species imported with the colonies, hankers after hedgerows and snug34 little borders. It is more widely distributed than many native species, and may be always found along the ditches in the village corners, where it is not appreciated. The irrigating ditch is an impartial35 distributer. It gathers all the alien weeds that come west in garden and grass seeds and affords them harbor in its banks. There one finds the European mallow (Malva rotundifolia) spreading out to the streets with the summer overflow36, and every spring a dandelion or two, brought in with the blue grass seed, uncurls in the swardy soil. Farther than either of these have come the lilies that the Chinese coolies cultivate in adjacent mud holes for their foodful bulbs. The seegoo establishes itself very readily in swampy37 borders, and the white blossom spikes38 among the arrow-pointed leaves are quite as acceptable to the eye as any native species.
In the neighborhood of towns founded by the Spanish Californians, whether this plant is native to the locality or not, one can always find aromatic39 clumps40 of yerba buena, the "good herb" (Micromeria douglassii). The virtue41 of it as a febrifuge was taught to the mission fathers by the neophytes, and wise old dames42 of my acquaintance have worked astonishing cures with it and the succulent yerba mansa. This last is native to wet meadows and distinguished43 enough to have a family all to itself.
Where the irrigating ditches are shallow and a little neglected, they choke quickly with watercress that multiplies about the lowest Sierra springs. It is characteristic of the frequenters of water borders near man haunts, that they are chiefly of the sorts that are useful to man, as if they made their services an excuse for the intrusion. The joint44-grass of soggy pastures produces edible45, nut-flavored tubers, called by the Indians taboose. The common reed of the ultramontane marshes46 (here Phragmites vulgaris), a very stately, whispering reed, light and strong for shafts47 or arrows, affords sweet sap and pith which makes a passable sugar.
It seems the secrets of plant powers and influences yield themselves most readily to primitive48 peoples, at least one never hears of the knowledge coming from any other source. The Indian never concerns himself, as the botanist49 and the poet, with the plant's appearances and relations, but with what it can do for him.
It can do much, but how do you suppose he finds it out; what instincts or accidents guide him? How does a cat know when to eat catnip? Why do western bred cattle avoid loco weed, and strangers eat it and go mad? One might suppose that in a time of famine the Paiutes digged wild parsnip in meadow corners and died from eating it, and so learned to produce death swiftly and at will. But how did they learn, repenting50 in the last agony, that animal fat is the best antidote51 for its virulence52; and who taught them that the essence of joint pine (Ephedra nevadensis), which looks to have no juice in it of any sort, is efficacious in stomachic disorders53. But they so understand and so use. One believes it to be a sort of instinct atrophied54 by disuse in a complexer civilization. I remember very well when I came first upon a wet meadow of yerba mansa, not knowing its name or use. It looked potent55; the cool, shiny leaves, the succulent, pink stems and fruity bloom. A little touch, a hint, a word, and I should have known what use to put them to. So I felt, unwilling56 to leave it until we had come to an understanding. So a musician might have felt in the presence of an instrument known to be within his province, but beyond his power. It was with the relieved sense of having shaped a long surmise58 that I watched the Senora Romero make a poultice of it for my burned hand.
On, down from the lower lakes to the village weirs, the brown and golden disks of helenum have beauty as a sufficient excuse for being. The plants anchor out on tiny capes59, or mid18-stream islets, with the nearly sessile radicle leaves submerged. The flowers keep up a constant trepidation60 in time with the hasty water beating at their stems, a quivering, instinct with life, that seems always at the point of breaking into flight; just as the babble61 of the watercourses always approaches articulation62 but never quite achieves it. Although of wide range the helenum never makes itself common through profusion63, and may be looked for in the same places from year to year. Another lake dweller64 that comes down to the ploughed lands is the red columbine. ( C.truncata). It requires no encouragement other than shade, but grows too rank in the summer heats and loses its wildwood grace. A common enough orchid65 in these parts is the false lady's slipper66 (Epipactis gigantea), one that springs up by any water where there is sufficient growth of other sorts to give it countenance67. It seems to thrive best in an atmosphere of suffocation68.
The middle Sierras fall off abruptly69 eastward70 toward the high valleys. Peaks of the fourteen thousand class, belted with sombre swathes of pine, rise almost directly from the bench lands with no foothill approaches. At the lower edge of the bench or mesa the land falls away, often by a fault, to the river hollows, and along the drop one looks for springs or intermittent71 swampy swales. Here the plant world resembles a little the lake gardens, modified by altitude and the use the town folk put it to for pasture. Here are cress, blue violets, potentilla, and, in the damp of the willow23 fence-rows, white false asphodels. I am sure we make too free use of this word FALSE in naming plants—false mallow, false lupine, and the like. The asphodel is at least no falsifier, but a true lily by all the heaven-set marks, though small of flower and run mostly to leaves, and should have a name that gives it credit for growing up in such celestial72 semblance73. Native to the mesa meadows is a pale iris74, gardens of it acres wide, that in the spring season of full bloom make an airy fluttering as of azure75 wings. Single flowers are too thin and sketchy76 of outline to affect the imagination, but the full fields have the misty77 blue of mirage78 waters rolled across desert sand, and quicken the senses to the anticipation79 of things ethereal. A very poet's flower, I thought; not fit for gathering80 up, and proving a nuisance in the pastures, therefore needing to be the more loved. And one day I caught Winnenap' drawing out from mid leaf a fine strong fibre for making snares81. The borders of the iris fields are pure gold, nearly sessile buttercups and a creeping-stemmed composite of a redder hue82. I am convinced that English-speaking children will always have buttercups. If they do not light upon the original companion of little frogs they will take the next best and cherish it accordingly. I find five unrelated species loved by that name, and as many more and as inappropriately called cowslips.
By every mesa spring one may expect to find a single shrub22 of the buckthorn, called of old time Cascara sagrada—the sacred bark. Up in the canons, within the limit of the rains, it seeks rather a stony83 slope, but in the dry valleys is not found away from water borders.
In all the valleys and along the desert edges of the west are considerable areas of soil sickly with alkali-collecting pools, black and evil-smelling like old blood. Very little grows hereabout but thick-leaved pickle84 weed. Curiously85 enough, in this stiff mud, along roadways where there is frequently a little leakage86 from canals, grows the only western representative of the true heliotropes (Heliotropium curassavicum). It has flowers of faded white, foliage of faded green, resembling the "live-for-ever" of old gardens and graveyards87, but even less attractive. After so much schooling88 in the virtues89 of water-seeking plants, one is not surprised to learn that its mucilaginous sap has healing powers.
Last and inevitable90 resort of overflow waters is the tulares, great wastes of reeds (Juncus) in sickly, slow streams. The reeds, called tules, are ghostly pale in winter, in summer deep poisonous-looking green, the waters thick and brown; the reed beds breaking into dingy91 pools, clumps of rotting willows, narrow winding92 water lanes and sinking paths. The tules grow inconceivably thick in places, standing57 man-high above the water; cattle, no, not any fish nor fowl93 can penetrate94 them. Old stalks succumb95 slowly; the bed soil is quagmire96, settling with the weight as it fills and fills. Too slowly for counting they raise little islands from the bog97 and reclaim98 the land. The waters pushed out cut deeper channels, gnaw99 off the edges of the solid earth.
The tulares are full of mystery and malaria100. That is why we have meant to explore them and have never done so. It must be a happy mystery. So you would think to hear the redwinged blackbirds proclaim it clear March mornings. Flocks of them, and every flock a myriad101, shelter in the dry, whispering stems. They make little arched runways deep into the heart of the tule beds. Miles across the valley one hears the clamor of their high, keen flutings in the mating weather.
Wild fowl, quacking102 hordes103 of them, nest in the tulares. Any day's venture will raise from open shallows the great blue heron on his hollow wings. Chill evenings the mallard drakes cry continually from the glassy pools, the bittern's hollow boom rolls along the water paths. Strange and farflown fowl drop down against the saffron, autumn sky. All day wings beat above it hazy104 with speed; long flights of cranes glimmer105 in the twilight106. By night one wakes to hear the clanging geese go over. One wishes for, but gets no nearer speech from those the reedy fens107 have swallowed up. What they do there, how fare, what find, is the secret of the tulares.
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1
irrigating
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| 灌溉( irrigate的现在分词 )； 冲洗（伤口） | |
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boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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dyke
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| n.堤，水坝，排水沟 | |
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weirs
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| n.堰，鱼梁（指拦截游鱼的枝条篱）( weir的名词复数 ) | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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pertained
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| 关于( pertain的过去式和过去分词 )； 有关； 存在； 适用 | |
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ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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toads
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| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆( toad的名词复数 ) | |
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shovel
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| n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出 | |
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gauge
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| v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器 | |
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ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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mid
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| adj.中央的，中间的 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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shrub
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| n.灌木，灌木丛 | |
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willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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dribble
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| v.点滴留下，流口水；n.口水 | |
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coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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usurpation
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| n.篡位；霸占 | |
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tangles
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| （使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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overflow
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| v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出 | |
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swampy
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| adj.沼泽的，湿地的 | |
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spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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aromatic
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| adj.芳香的，有香味的 | |
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clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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dames
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| n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人 | |
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43
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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45
edible
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| n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的 | |
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46
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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48
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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botanist
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| n.植物学家 | |
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50
repenting
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的现在分词 ) | |
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51
antidote
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| n.解毒药，解毒剂 | |
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52
virulence
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| n.毒力，毒性；病毒性；致病力 | |
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53
disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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54
atrophied
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| adj.萎缩的，衰退的v.（使）萎缩，（使）虚脱，（使）衰退( atrophy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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59
capes
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| 碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬 | |
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trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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61
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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articulation
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| n.（清楚的）发音；清晰度，咬合 | |
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profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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dweller
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| n.居住者，住客 | |
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orchid
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| n.兰花，淡紫色 | |
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slipper
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| n.拖鞋 | |
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67
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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suffocation
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| n.窒息 | |
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69
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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70
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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71
intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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iris
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| n.虹膜，彩虹 | |
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azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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sketchy
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| adj.写生的，写生风格的，概略的 | |
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misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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78
mirage
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| n.海市蜃楼，幻景 | |
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79
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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80
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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81
snares
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| n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 )；圈套；诱人遭受失败（丢脸、损失等）的东西；诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的第三人称单数 ) | |
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82
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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83
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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84
pickle
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| n.腌汁，泡菜；v.腌，泡 | |
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85
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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86
leakage
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| n.漏，泄漏；泄漏物；漏出量 | |
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87
graveyards
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| 墓地( graveyard的名词复数 )； 垃圾场； 废物堆积处； 收容所 | |
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88
schooling
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| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
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89
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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90
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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94
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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succumb
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| v.屈服，屈从；死 | |
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96
quagmire
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| n.沼地 | |
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bog
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| n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖 | |
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98
reclaim
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| v.要求归还，收回；开垦 | |
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99
gnaw
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| v.不断地啃、咬；使苦恼，折磨 | |
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100
malaria
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| n.疟疾 | |
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101
myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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102
quacking
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| v.（鸭子）发出嘎嘎声( quack的现在分词 ) | |
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103
hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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104
hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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105
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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106
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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107
fens
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| n.（尤指英格兰东部的）沼泽地带( fen的名词复数 ) | |
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