On making my way towards the spot, I found I had disturbed a big bear as it was lolling at ease in its bath; the discolored water showed where it had scrambled hastily out and galloped off as I approached.

The spring welled out at the base of a high granite rock, forming a small pool of shimmering broken crystal.

The soaked moss lay in a deep wet cushion round about, and jutted over the edges of the pool like a floating shelf.

Graceful, water-loving ferns swayed to and fro.

Above, the great conifers spread their murmuring branches, dimming the light, and keeping out the heat; their brown boles sprang from the ground like buttressed columns.