088 THE REDWOODS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. [Mar. 



THE REDWOODS OF NOETHERN CALIFORNIA. 



OF Californiau trees, the most noted are the Sequoias. These 

 are of two distinct genera — the Wcllingtonia (Sequoia) 

 gigantca, or big or mammoth trees, and the true Seqiioia semper- 

 vh'ens, or redwood. 



The big trees grow only on the Sierra Nevada mountains, at an 

 altitude of 4500Jeet and upwards, within latitudes 37° to 39°, in 

 groves of several hundred trees, and also scattered through the 

 forest. They have been described by innumerable visitors — every 

 passer through San Francisco, who has a couple of days to spare, 

 not failing to make an excursion to one or other of the groves — and 

 it is not proposed here to make further mention of them. 



Similar to the big trees, in almost every particular except size, 

 is the redwood already noticed. Even in size this difference would 

 not be strikingly apparent unless the trees were to be placed side 

 by side, and even then the redwood would be pronounced the more 

 graceful of the two, for from a base but half the girth of a big tree 

 will spring a shaft almost as high. 



But its gracefulness as seen in its forests, and the picturesqueness 

 of these forests as viewed from some mountain top from whence 

 the eye can trace each river valley clothed in the never-fading 

 greenery of its foliage, is never seen by the visitor to California who 

 keeps to the beaten track. This tree is found only on the coast, 

 from the 37th parallel northwards to the Oregon boundary, lining 

 the banks of the rivers and " creeks " for from twelve to fifteen 

 miles inland from their debouchment ; the largest forests are on 

 Piussian Eiver, Sonoma County, and on Mad Elver, Humboldt 

 County. A creature of fog, it is never to be found where that does 

 not penetrate. During the summer months the wind blows from 

 the north-west with great regularity, and during the forenoon the 

 vapour from the mild Pacific is, by it, banked up some miles from 

 the shore. Later in the day the wind increases and the fog is 

 driven inland ; detached masses first come in like flying squadrons 

 overhead, then the body of it follows, sweeping up the river valleys, 

 creeping through the foliage of the tallest trees, crawling over the 

 hill tops and down the opposite slopes, and filling up the canons, 

 till soon hill and valley are enveloped in dripping mist. The foliage 

 of the redwood condenses this mist, converting it into rain, thus 

 supplying moisture to the roots during the long rainless summer. 

 The fog continues throughout the night, and generally disappears 

 with sunrise or before mid-day ; and a beautiful sight it is to 



