204 Sketch of the Life of Mr. David Douglas* 



" to survey the neighbouring country, leaving my guide to take 

 " charge of the horses until my return in the evening, when I 

 " found that he had done as I wished, and in the interval dried 

 " some wet paper which I had desired him to put in order. 

 " About an hour's walk from my camp, I met an Indian, who on 

 " perceiving me instantly strung his bow, placed on his left arm a 

 " sleeve of Racoon skin, and stood on the defensive. Being quite 

 " satisfied that this conduct was prompted by fear, and not by 

 '' hostile intentions^ the poor fellow having probably never seen 

 " such a being as myself before, I laid my gun at my feet, on the 

 '' ground and waved my hand for him to come to me, which he 

 " did slowly and with great caution. I then made him place his 

 " bow and quiver beside my gun, and striking a light gave him a 

 " smoke out of my own pipe, and a present of a few beads. 

 " With my pencil I made a rough sketch of the cone and pine 

 " tree which I wanted to obtain, and drew his attention to it? 

 " when he instantly pointed with his hand to the hills fifteen or 

 " twenty miles distant, towards the south ; and when I expressed 

 " my intention of going thither, cheerfully set about accompany- 

 " ing me. At midnight I reached my long-wished-for pines, and 

 " lost no time in examining them, and in endeavoring to collect 

 " specimens and seeds. New and strange things seldom fail to 

 " make strong impressions and are therefore, frequently over-rated ; 

 " so that lest I should never again see my friends in England to 

 '' inform them verbally of this most beautiful and immensely 

 " grand tree, I shall here state the dimensions of the largest I 

 " could find among several that had been blown down by the 

 '' wind. At three feet from the ground its circumference is 57 ft* 

 " 9 inches ; at 134 ft,, 17 ft. 5 inches ; the extreme length 245 ft. 

 " The trunks are uncommonly straight, and the bark, remarkably 

 " smooth for such large timber, of a whitish or light brown colour, 

 " and yielding a great quantity of bright amber gum. The tallest 

 " stems are generally unbranched for two thirds of the height 

 " of the tree ; the branches rather pendulous with cones 

 '' hanging from their points like sugar loaves in a grocer's 

 '^ shop. These cones, are however, only seen on the loftiest trees, 

 " and the putting myself in possession of three of these, (all I 

 " could obtain) nearly brought my life to a close. As it was im- 

 " posible either to climb the tree or hew it down, I endeavoured 

 " to knock of the cones by firing at them with ball, when the re- 



