MENZIES' JOURNAL OF VANCOUVER'S VOYAGES. 19 



such rocky, foggy channels had been safely surmounted speaks 

 well for the seamanship of those intrepid navigators. The only 

 serious mishap seems to have occurred on 6th August, when 

 the " Discovery " went firmly aground on a sunken rock, but 

 got safely off with the rise of the tide next morning. 



From Menzies' daily notes of the plants he saw, though his 

 specific names were different from ours, it is easy to identify 

 most of them. Thus, he records finding on 2nd yia.y, Ardufus 

 Menziesii^ Acer 7nacrophylliim^ Alnus oregona ; on 6th June> 

 Cornus Nuttallii^ Quercus Garry ana, Populus trichocarpa. He 

 missed few of the species of the timber-belt, but of necessity 

 had no opportunity of seeing the alpine flora ; the tops of the 

 mountains were protected by what he calls " impenetrable 

 stretches of pinery." Only once, and that far to the north, in 

 the exploration of the coast in the following year, did he reach 

 a mountain top and gather new alpine plants. Like Douglas 

 he was unable, in many instances, to recognise the western 

 conifers and other trees as being distinct species from those 

 with which he had become familiar on the American Atlantic 

 coast, though we know now that there is scarcely one ligneous 

 species common to both sea-boards. 



After leaving Nootka Sound, in October 1792, the vessels 

 sailed for the south and explored the coasts of what are now 

 the States of Washington, Oregon, and California. Passing 

 under the Presidio, they cast anchor close to the Mission of 

 San Francisco, on the 14th of November. 



The writer has had the advantage of reading a transcript 

 of the whole of the Journal, and it is much to be desired that 

 one day it may be published in its entirety. Menzies' account 

 of the small Spanish garrisons, and the Fathers at the Missions 

 of San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Monterey, is, perhaps, the 

 most interesting part of his diary. There must be innumerable 

 Californians who would be glad of the chance of reading all 

 he had to tell of those early days, only fourteen years after 

 the Spanish settlement had been made. The Presidio boasted 

 only one piece of ordnance to command the entrance to the 

 bay of San Francisco — a small brass cannon lashed to a log 

 of wood. 



Nothing could be more vivid than the description of the life 

 in the Presidio, which stood then as now on an eminence, to the 

 Avest of what is to-day the great city. Of the kindness and 



