182 MK. HAKTWEG'S JOURNAL OF A MISSION TO CALIFOKNIA. 



from the Mexican government to the governors of Guadalajara, 

 Mazatlan, and California. Having arranged my affairs with 

 Messrs. Manning and Mackintosh, I took the diligence on the 

 19th for Guadalajara, where I arrived safely on the 25th, pass- 

 ing over a very uninteresting ground, for not a tree was to be 

 seen save a few stunted Schinus Molle and Opuntias. 



On the 28th the arrangements being completed for pursuing 

 my journey, I left on horseback in company with Mr. K., a 

 young merchant who is proceeding to Mazatlan, and arrived in 

 Tepic on the 1st of January, 1846, after five days' hard riding. 



Having been advised by my friends in Mexico, and by Messrs. 

 Barron and Forbes, of Tepic, not to proceed to California with- 

 out my luggage, I resolved to await it here, and in the mean- 

 time examine the neighbourhood. 



The town of Tepic is situate in a plain at an elevation of 

 nearly 3000 feet above the level of the sea, and enjoys a tem- 

 perature of 80° in summer, and 60° to 70° during the winter 

 months. Most tropical fruits and sugar-cane are cultivated 

 here. In the S.W. at a short distance from the town is a range 

 of mountains, of which the liighest part is called the Cerro de 

 San Juan. The whole range is of volcanic origin, and is chiefly 

 composed of crumbled pumice-stone, which at a distance gives 

 it a whitish appearance. The principal forest-trees are Pines, 

 one of which closely resembles P. macrophylla, with beautiful 

 long foliage and cones varying from 12 to 16 inches in length. 

 This forms a tree from 60 to 80 feet high. Another species of 

 Pine, forming an equally large tree, is called by the natives 

 Ocote hembra (female pine, in opposition to the first, which is 

 named Ocote macho or male pine). The foliage of this new 

 species is 16 inches long, and the cones measure from 4 to 5 

 inches in length. This is not frequently met with, and the 

 cones are produced more sparingly than in the other kind. 



The more elevated parts of the Cerro de San Juan are co- 

 vered with oaks, an Arbutus, a shrubby Bocconia, several syn- 

 genesious shrubs, a white flowering Ceanothus, Bouvardia 

 splendens, and among herbaceous plants I observed Lobelia 

 laxiflora, Spigelia scabriuscula, with a head of crimson flowers 

 resembling at a distance Phlox Drummond, a half shrubby 

 Pentstemon with large pink flowers, Macromeria exserta, Aris- 

 tolochia brevipes, and the showy Lamourouxia multifida and 

 cordata. 



On January the 8th, passing over the plain of Tepic in an 

 easterly direction, after a ride of six hours I entered the Monte 

 de los Quartos, a forest consisting chiefly of oaks with a few 

 pines intermixed : the only plant in flower was Lupinus Ehren- 

 bergii ; on the banks and in the dried-up bed of the rivulet that 



