In the Sierra 



the exclusion of other species. A few yel- 

 low pines are still to be found as com- 

 panions, and in the coolest places silver 

 firs; but noble as these are, the sugar pine 

 is king, and spreads long protecting arms 

 above them while they rock and wave in 

 sign of recognition. 



We have now reached a height of six 

 thousand feet. In the forenoon we passed 

 along a flat part of the dividing ridge that 

 is planted with manzanita (Arctostapbylos\ 9 

 some specimens the largest I have seen. I 

 measured one, the bole of which is four feet 

 in diameter and only eighteen inches high 

 from the ground, where it dissolves into 

 many wide-spreading branches forming a 

 broad round head about ten or twelve feet 

 high, covered with clusters of small narrow- 

 throated pink bells. The leaves are pale 

 green, glandular, and set on edge by a twist 

 of the petiole. The branches seem naked; 

 for the chocolate -colored bark is very 

 smooth and thin, and is shed off in flakes 



[117] 



