14 PROC. COTTESWOLD CLUB vol. xiii. 



yellow colour ; and it is most curious to see a flash of 

 fire run up a tree when the flame has once caught the 

 lichen at the base. But it gives one a feeling of sadness 

 to see these giants of the woodlands, with their foliage 

 and vitality destroyed, still standing with blackened stem 

 and withered branches, or lying prostrate, half burnt, and 

 rapidly decaying. 



The special " big trees " of California, the Sequoia 

 sempervirens, and Sequoia gigantea are only found in the 

 southern parts of the State ; and I think the latter is 

 practically confined to the Yosemite valley : the former, 

 always known as " Redwood," covers thousands of 

 square miles of land in the State, growing everywhere 

 south of San Francisco within the limits of a certain zone 

 of altitude above the sea. 



Such is briefly a general description of the valley, wild 

 and rugged among the mountains, sombre and mysterious 

 in the silent shadows of the mighty pine forests ; lively 

 and enchanting where the Creek hurls its waters madly 

 downwards over a never-ending series of glistening 

 cascades. It is far removed from the busy throb of 

 civilisation, but surpassingly lovely, and bathed in an 

 atmosphere redolent with the odour of the pine forests, 

 and so translucent as completely to deceive the stranger 

 who unwarily judges the distance of a remote object by 

 any ordinary standard. 



There are few signs of life ; as far as mankind is con- 

 cerned they are almost non-existent, except that here and 

 there you notice by the side of the trail a rough box 

 fastened to a stake, which indicates that "John Webb," or 

 someone, is prospecting for gold far away, perhaps, up 

 some side Canon, and will be glad for anyone descending 

 the vallev to carry away and post any letter he may find 

 in the box; or, that the postman riding up the valley 

 twice a week mav drop into the box the missive from the 



