APPENDIX. 469 



height of two hundred and fifty and even three hundred feet, 

 with trunks from four to ten feet in diameter. Less striking 

 and important are the western yew (taxus hremfolia\ the 

 western juniper [juniperus occldentalis), the Oregon oak 

 {querciis garreyana), the Oregon alder [alnns Oregona)^ 

 and the Oregon ash [fraxiniis Oregona). The forests of 

 Oregon are filled with a dense and tangled undergrowth, in 

 which ferns and bushes bearing berries and thorns are nu- 

 merous. The greater part of the level land of the Willa- 

 mette Valley and part of the Umpqua and Rogue River 

 Valleys are prairie land ; that is, they are not covered with 

 trees. East of the Cascades the vegetation is not only far 

 more scanty, but it is entirely different in character. The 

 trees are scattered, stunted, and twisted, the grass is thin, 

 and almost the only bush is the wild sage or artemisia, one 

 of the most cheerless and worthless of all plants. — The yjrin- 

 cipal indigenous quadrupeds of Oregon are the grizzly bear, 

 black bear, American panther {fells concolor), the wild cat, 

 the gray wolf, the coyoto [canis latra/is), the mountain sheep, 

 the elk, the black-tailed deer, and the antelope. The most 

 prominent birds are the California vulture {cathartes CiiUfoml- 

 a?ius), the turkey-buzzard, the golden eagle, the bahi eagle, the 

 fish-hawk, the trumpeter swan (ci/g?ius buccinator), the Ameri- 

 can swan, the Canada goose, the snow goose, the brant, four 

 species of albatross, three of pellicans, and seven of gulls. Of rep- 

 tiles there are none deserving special mention, save the rattle- 

 snake, which is not abundant. The rivers of Oregon abound in 

 salmon at the ])roper seasons ; there are about a dozen difiereiit 

 varieties, and all of them, when they first enter the fresh water 

 from the ocean, are delicious. Most of the animals and vegetables 

 found in Oregon are indigenous to that coast, and are not found 

 elsewhere. This remark extends to the fish and the birds as 

 Avell as to the quadrupeds and the trees. — The most remarka- 

 ble natural curiosities of Oregon are the rapids of the Colum- 

 bia River at the Cascades and the Dalles, the falls of the Wil- 

 lamette at Oregon City, the high snow peaks of the Cas;'u le 



