STEEP TRAILS 



branches. The other is found here and there 

 well up toward the edge of the timber-line. 

 This is the fine Alaska cedar (C. Nootkatensis), 

 the lumber from which is noted for its dura- 

 bility, fineness of grain, and beautiful yellow 

 color, and for its fragrance, which resembles 

 that of sandal-wood. The Alaska Indians 

 make their canoe-paddles of it and weave 

 matting and coarse cloth from the fibrous 

 brown bark. 



Among the different kinds of hardwood trees 

 are the oak, maple, madrona, birch, alder, and 

 wild apple, while large cottonwoods are com- 

 mon along the rivers and shores of the num- 

 erous lakes. 



The most striking of these to the traveler 

 is the Menzies arbutus, or madrona, as it is 

 popularly called in California. Its curious red 

 and yellow bark, large thick glossy leaves, and 

 panicles of waxy-looking greenish-white urn- 

 shaped flowers render it very conspicuous. 

 On the boles of the younger trees and on all 

 the branches, the bark is so smooth and seam- 

 less that it does not appear as bark at all, but 

 rather the naked wood. The whole tree, with 

 the exception of the larger part of the trunk, 

 looks as though it had been thoroughly peeled. 

 It is found sparsely scattered along the shores 

 of the Sound and back in the forests also on 



234 



