210 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



mous rarity a quest, however, which necessitates a 

 camp outfit, stout legs and the expenditure of sev- 

 eral days of time, to be entirely satisfactory. 



Also in Monterey County is the native home of 

 one of the most widely cultivated conifers in Cali- 

 fornia the Monterey cypress (Cupressus macro- 

 carpa). As a wild tree, it occurs in an even more 

 circumscribed area than its neighbor the Santa 

 Lucia fir being confined to two scattered groves at 

 the edge of Carmel Bay. One of these is to the 

 south of that lovely water, on Point Lobos ; the other 

 to the north, on Cypress Point. The wonderful old 

 trees on the bluffs at the latter place, their flattened 

 tops blown by centuries of storms into all sorts of 

 arboreal phantasms, are among the sights cherished 

 by every tourist who takes Monterey's Seventeen- 

 Mile drive. Be kind to the driver, as he prattles 

 to you of these old giants of the shore, which he will 

 unblushingly tell you are of the same " specie" as 

 the cedars of Lebanon, and anywhere from one to 

 two thousand years old. Be kind to him, but do 

 not believe him. They are not cedars at all, and as 

 for their age, while nobody knows, you cannot get 

 any botanist to believe from present evidence, that 

 they live over two or three hundred years, at the 

 most. From those inspiring storm-swept heroes to 

 the evergreen roosters and teapots carved in the 



