8 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



dotted with live oaks looking from afar like groves 

 of fig trees to eyes accustomed to the orchards of 

 Spain. Streams were fringed with " eyebrows" 

 (the quaint Spanish term) of willows and wild 

 blackberries, and always and again those beloved 

 roses of Castile. To the nightly camp came friendly 

 Indians, bringing, in baskets of native weave, acorns 

 and flour ground from the wild seeds of the region. 

 Those would have been halcyon days for the collec- 

 tor of Indian baskets, when for a handful of glass 

 beads, he might have had the finest in California. 



Crespi's journal is naturally richer in its refer- 

 ence to shrubs and trees than to herbaceous plants 

 for he was not a professional botanist ; and, besides, 

 the season was late for any display of floral beauty. 

 In the matter of trees his observations possess more 

 than passing interest. Besides the characteristic 

 sycamores and live oaks of the southern part of the 

 State, he notes, for instance, the little wild walnut 

 trees of the San Fernando Valley, of which we may 

 still have a glimpse on the hills near the Cahuenga 

 Pass on the automobile highway that leads up from 

 Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. Of greater interest 

 is the record of finding that particular gem of Cali- 

 fornia's arboreal crown, the redwood. On October 

 10, 1769, near what is now Santa Cruz, they passed 

 over "plains and spreading hills covered with high 



