In the Sierra 



Azalea occidentalis, another charming 

 shrub, grows beside cool streams hereabouts 

 and much higher in the Yosemite region. 

 We found it this evening in bloom a few 

 miles above Greeley's Mill, where we are 

 camped for the night. It is closely related 

 to the rhododendrons, is very showy and fra- 

 grant, and everybody must like it not only 

 for itself but for the shady alders and wil- 

 lows, ferny meadows, and living water asso- 

 ciated with it. 



Another conifer was met to-day, in- 

 cense cedar (Libocedrus decurrens} 9 a large 

 tree with warm yellow-green foliage in flat 

 plumes like those of arborvitas, bark cinna- 

 mon-colored, and as the boles of the old 

 trees are without limbs they make striking 

 pillars in the woods where the sun chances 

 to shine on them, a worthy companion 

 of the kingly sugar and yellow pines. I feel 

 strangely attracted to this tree. The brown 

 close-grained wood, as well as the small 

 scale-like leaves, is fragrant, and the flat over- 



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