IN CALIFORNIA 9 



trees of red wood, trees unknown whose leaves dif- 

 fer from cedars, although the wood and color re- 

 semble them, but yet very different without having 

 the odor of cedar, and in the trees we encountered 

 very brittle. In these regions they are very abun- 

 dant, and because nobody of the expedition knows 

 them they have been named with the name of their 

 color," that is, el Palo Colorado, the Spanish equiv- 

 alent of the redwood. This is doubtless the first 

 record of the sight of this noble tree by white men. 

 In those early days the only practicable approach 

 to California was on the ocean side, and the policy 

 of Spain prohibited any commerce between the prov- 

 ince and foreign nations. Consequently it remained 

 for many years after the founding of the first mis- 

 sionary establishments a locked garden to the outer 

 world. Once in a while, however, a foreign ship, 

 on some scientific errand bent, put in for stores or 

 repairs. So, in September, 1786, there dropped an- 

 chor in the port of Monterey, the ships of the French 

 explorer, Count de la Perouse. These vessels would 

 seem to have brought to California the first profes- 

 sional botanists to set foot on the land. The name 

 of one recorded in La Perouse 's narrative was Col- 

 lignon; but as the expedition was subsequently 

 wrecked in the South Seas, perhaps the collection 

 never reached France. "Our botanists," La Pe- 



