220 MR. IIARTWEG'S JOURNAL OF A MISSION TO CALIFORNIA. 



E. californica, Delphinium, No. 224, and, in places where 

 water collects during the rainy season, Martagon, No. 216, with 

 dingy yellow flowers spotted with brown, Mimulus tricolor, two 

 inches high, Limnanthes pulcliella, No. 214, having an abun- 

 dance of delicate pink flowers. 



On April the 13th I left with Mr. L. for his farm, seventy 

 miles higher up in the valley. Mr. L. had been in the lower 

 country, and came up thus far with his goods in a large canoe, 

 and was now proceeding with them in waggons. Crossing 

 Feather river, which here is eighty yards broad, and of consider- 

 able depth, our course lay five and twenty miles along that river, 

 through a beautiful wood of evergreen and deciduous Oaks : here 

 I found, in sandy tracts, Leptosiphon, No. 232, with white 

 fragrant flowers ; Collinsia, No. 238, C. bicolor, the latter in- 

 variably growing at the foot of large oaks. 



Leaving Feather river, we struck across a prairie for twenty 

 miles : here immense fields of Eschscholtzia crocea, E. californica, 

 and Ranunculus, No. 239, presented themselves, each species 

 growing by itself, which with the plants observed on Mr. 

 Cordua's farm, and Lupinus nanus. Delphinium, No. 205, No. 

 236, Trifolium, No. 237, Compositaj, Nos. 241, 242, 243, 

 CEuothera, 244, Malvacea, No. 246. produced a splendid effect. 

 A small patch of the beautiful little Leptosiphon aureus, with 

 golden flowers, I also found in the open prairie ; it is, however, 

 by no means common. 



The prairies in the Sacramento valley are divided by small 

 rivers, termed " creeks " by the American settlers : these creeks 

 generally have a border of Oaks upon their banks, which also 

 extend over the rich bottom lands. In the dry beds of these 

 rivers I observed plants, which nowhere are to be found on the 

 prairie, the seeds of which have evidently been carried down 

 from the mountains during the rains, as for example, Pent- 

 stemon azureum. No. 255, P. No. 313, Umbellifera, No. 257, 

 with an aromatic tap-root, held in repute among the Indians 

 for its medicinal properties ; in rather damp places, Clintonia 

 elegans, C. pulchella, and Limnanthes alba. No. 315. 



A four days' slow drive with the waggons brought us to the 

 farm of my companion :'the vegetation here differed in no re- 

 spect from that already observed in the valley. 



An opportunity of visiting the mountains was afforded me a 

 few days after my arrival, which I embraced with pleasure, as 

 from the hostile character of the mountain Indians towards the 

 settlers, it was not deemed prudent for me to make an excursion 

 in that direction, attended by a guide only ; I therefore joined a 

 party of settlers who were going to the mountains to examine 

 the timber, and if possible to find a site for a sawmill. 



