TREES OF WESTERN AMERICA. I 29 



We made a four days' camping expedition from Kerby south- 

 wards to the main ridge of the mountains, crossing the CaUfornian 

 boundary. It is a beautiful country-side. There are several fine 

 oak trees — Quercus densiflora or pasania, mentioned above, 

 Quercus Wizlizeni^ and Quercus Garryana — said to grow to 

 1 50 feet high, and nearly a dozen species of willow ; quantities 

 of gentians occur in the marshy spots, with the yellow pitcher 

 plant {Darlingtonia Californica). We found groves of Prunus 

 demissa with the fruit ripe and hanging in bunches — a charm- 

 ing tree. The hill-sides are clothed with Manzanita and 

 Ceanoihus bushes. Our guide was anxious to take us to what 

 he believed to be the "weeping spruce" we were in search of; 

 but after a hard day's toil up steep hills, over trails which none 

 but a backwoodsman would differentiate from the surrounding 

 brush, we found ourselves among a number of Douglas fir, whose 

 branches, growing in a curious bunchy form, had misled our 

 man. However, the scenery well repaid the extra labour. That 

 night we camped close to the divide, and next day, while hunting 

 the hill tops for black-tail deer, I came quite unexpectedly on a 

 splendid grove of Picea Breweriana in a corry facing north. I 

 took numerous photographs of the trees; they were growing among 

 Abies concolor, Abies magnifica, Libocedrus, and Douglas. I 

 saw no cones on these trees. They stood distinct and beautiful, 

 with their long fronds often hanging 8 feet to the ground. On 

 this ridge the Libocedrus and Douglas were gnarled and 

 twisted by the wind into the most fantastic shapes. We returned 

 to Kerby and Grant's Pass highly satisfied with our week's trip, 

 and pleased to have found what we had gone so far in search of. 



We took train from Grant's Pass, by night unfortunately, as we 

 were limited as to time, and next morning found ourselves at 

 Sisson, at the base of Mount Shasta in North California. Here 

 a small branch line leaves the Southern Pacific, and proceeds 

 due east to a timber settlement called M 'Cloud, after its founder 

 — doubtless a Skyeman. Six miles from here is the charming 

 house of a friend of mine, on the edge of the great Shasta 

 Timber Reserve, in a bend of the M 'Cloud River. Its banks 

 are clothed with a huge saxifrage, among which the vine maple 

 leaves were just turning scarlet. The timber is Douglas and Abies 

 concolor close beside the river ; higher up Pinus ponderosa and 

 Pinus Lambertiana, growing finer than any I have seen elsewhere 

 in California; while still higher are Pinus monticola and Abies 



