266 ALLAN HANCOCK PACIFIC EXPEDITIONS VOL. 13 



only by the accounts of early explorers, by indirect evidences which 

 remain, or by comparison with the vegetation of similar habitats which 

 may have remained relatively unaffected. 



The testimony of early visitors to the islands is rarely trustworthy 

 because their bases of comparison is unknown and their interests varied. 

 Their visits w^re short and usually localized. In many cases, observations 

 were made largely from boats and amplified by hearsay evidence. The 

 island of San Clemente furnishes an illuminating illustration of such 

 evidence. Farnham (1887) said it was partly covered with trees, but 

 that a greater portion of it was barren sand and rock, while Cronise 

 (1868) said: "it contains neither soil, vegetation, nor water." Trask 

 (1897) wrote of the luxuriant growth of clovers and other forbs on 

 the eastern benches, but said that the main upland was so covered with 

 rock as to make each step a perilous undertaking. Yet the writer, in 

 1941, forty-five years later, found the main upland well covered by 

 soil and grasses. 



The extent of erosion caused by overgrazing on San Miguel and 

 San Nicolas has been mentioned. This combined effect of grazing and 

 erosion has obliterated many of the original plant communities and 

 caused the extinction of several species. Dall has reported of San Miguel 

 as follows^ : ''Near the shell heaps is a small grove of malva trees whose 

 green leaves and penciled blossoms refresh the eyes. There are no young 

 trees, however, as the omnipresent sheep crop every green thing within 

 their reach close to the ground." In respect to San Nicolas, Schumacher* 

 states: *'The vegetation of this island is like that of San Miguel, ruined 

 by overstocking it with sheep . . . On the eastern end, near the house, 

 we found some malva-like bushes, cleared of their foliage to the reach of 

 a sheep, which gave them the appearance of scrub-oak trees when seen 

 from a distance." 



George Nidiver was one of the earlier Americans to be occupied 

 about the islands. He hunted sea otter, fished, and engaged in sheep 

 raising on the islands. Fortunately his biography has been preserved 

 (Ellison, 1937). Nidiver and his party had an encounter with north- 

 western Indians, also engaged in otter hunting, on Santa Rosa Island 

 in 1836. Afterwards the Nidiver party hid in the thick brush near the 

 beach. The scene of this encounter has been reestablished and there 

 is now mainly open grassland in that part of the island. Nidiver again 

 speaks of sagebrush and Lavatera (malva real) in a section of San 

 Nicolas Island which is now utterly barren, and also speaks of trees, 



SThe lords of the isles, Overland Monthly, June, 1874. 



4 Some remains of a former people, Overland Monthly, October, 1875. 



