200 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOBNIA 



steel of man; and unless protective measures be 

 speedily invented and applied, in a few decads, at 

 the farthest, all that will be left of Sequoia gigantea 

 will be a few hacked and scarred monuments. 



TWO-LEAVED, OB, TAMAKACK, PINE 



(Pinus contorta, var. Marrayana) 



THIS species forms the bulk of the alpine forests, 

 extending along the range, above the fir zone, up to 

 a height of from 8000 to 9500 feet above the sea, 

 growing in beautiful order upon moraines that are 

 scarcely changed as yet by post-glacial weathering. 

 Compared with the giants of the lower zones, this 

 is a small tree, seldom attaining a height of a hun 

 dred feet. The largest specimen I ever measured 

 was ninety feet in height, and a little over six in 

 diameter four feet from the ground. The average 

 height of mature trees throughout the entire belt is 

 probably not far from fifty or sixty feet, with a di 

 ameter of two feet. It is a well-proportioned, rather 

 handsome little pine, with grayish-brown bark, and 

 crooked, much-divided branches, which cover the 

 greater portion of the trunk, not so densely, how 

 ever, as to prevent its being seen. The lower limbs 

 curve downward, gradually take a horizontal posi 

 tion about half-way up the trunk, then aspire more 

 and more toward the summit, thus forming a sharp, 

 conical top. The foliage is short and rigid, two 

 leaves in a fascicle, arranged in comparatively long, 

 cylindrical tassels at the ends of the tough, up- 

 curving branchlets. The cones are about two inches 



