84 VOYAGE TO THE 



wood, would serve the purpose of lignum viteie : there 

 are also some birch and plane trees ; but there are 

 very few trees bearing fruit which are indigenous ; 

 the cherry tree and gooseberry bush, however, appear 

 to be so. 



The shrubs covering the sand hills and moors are 

 principally syngenesious, or of the order rhamnus, 

 while those which prefer the more fertile and humid 

 soils are a gaudy-flowered currant bush, and a species 

 of honeysuckle ; but the most remarkable shrub in this 

 country is the yedra, a poisonous plant affecting only 

 particular constitutions of the human body, by pro- 

 ducing tumours and violent inflammation upon any 

 part with which it comes in contact ; and indeed even 

 the exhalation from it borne upon the wind, is said to 

 have an effect upon some people. It is a slender 

 shrub, preferring cool and shady places to others, and 

 bears a trefoil crenated leaf. Among other useful 

 roots in this country there are two which are used by 

 the natives for soap, amole and jamate. 



From San Francisco we proceeded to Monterey to 

 take in the stores that had been purchased at that 

 place, and to procure some spars which grow more 

 conveniently for embarkation there than at San Fran- 

 cisco. Though the distance between these two places 

 is very little more than a hundred miles, our passage 

 was prolonged to two days by light winds. On the 

 last day of the year we passed Punto ano nuevo, which 

 with Punto Pinos forms the bay of Monterey. This 

 is a spacious sandy bay about twenty miles across, and 

 according to Perouse with anchorage near the shore 

 in almost every part ; but it is not advisable to enter 

 it in any other place than that which is frecpiented as 

 an anchorage, in consequence of a heavy swell which 



