THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS 



103 



naked ground. Pines now preponderate, and among 

 them the yellow pine, the most valuable and widespread 

 timber of the west. Here, again, the southern portions 

 are notably drier and more barren than the northern. 



South of Mount Shasta moisture is still scantier, and, 

 henceforth, in the Sierra Nevada, the westward slopes 

 are invaded by a number of species which heretofore 



Fig 28. View in the Rocky Mountains, showing pines 

 and Douglas firs. 



were confined to the eastern side. The high forest, 

 which rises above a belt of chaparral, consists of much 

 the same trees as that of the Cascades, in addition to 

 southern species. The chief ornament of the southern 

 Sierra Nevada is the broken patchy belt of Big-Trees, 

 of which a few thousands are still left, now protected 

 against destruction. 



