NARRATIVE. 3 



are covered by a dense growth of chaparral, giving them in 

 the distance a deep blue or almost black effect. This cha- 

 parral consists largely of scrub oak Quercus undulata inter- 

 spersed or sometimes almost replaced by clumps of Ame- 

 lanchier, Peraphyllum, Rhus, Fendlera, and Cercocar- 

 pus. The summits of the lower foot hills on either side of 

 the valley support a scattered growth of nut pine and red 

 cedar, Pinus edulis and Juniperus monosperma. Looking west- 

 ward the eye wanders over great stretches of undulating 

 sage plains and pinon-covered ridges to the Blue Mountains 

 of Utah a hundred miles away. Southwestward the view 

 is limited by the less elevated Ute Mountain Range, lying 

 distant some thirty miles. 



The five days of a necessary detention at Mancos were 

 devoted to the flora of the valley; and these proved quite 

 as instructive as any equal portion of time spent at higher 

 altitudes. Three well-defined floral belts were reached from 

 this riverside camp. First, the flood plain of the Mancos, a 

 narrow bottom, varying from a few yards to a quarter of a 

 mile in width. Some parts of it are grassy and meadow- 

 like ; others occupied by swampy thicket. The largest trees 

 are those of the narrow-leaved poplar, Populus angustifolia ; 

 and this was the only member of its genus seen here, 

 except the aspen. The buffalo berry, Lepargyrea argentea, 

 conspicuous by its silver-gray foliage, is abundant, forming 

 large clumps, and reaching the height of fifteen and even 

 twenty feet. The thickets are composed of various willows, 

 interspersed with some choke-cherry trees, Cerasus demissa, 

 and dogwoods, Cornus stolonifera ; these supplemented by 

 dense masses of Distegia involucrata reminding one of the 

 hedges of so-called "buckbrush," Cephalanthus, bordering 

 the banks of swampy lakes in Mississippi River bottoms. 



At this elevation the Distegia (the Lonicera involucrata of 



