In the Sierra 



em to pick up what little they could find 

 on a breadth of about a quarter of a mile. 

 But as several flocks had already gone ahead 

 of us, scarce a leaf, green or dry, was left ; 

 therefore the starving flock had to be hur- 

 ried on over the bare, hot hills to the nearest 

 of the green pastures, about twenty or thirty 

 miles from here. 



The pack-animals were led by Don Quix- 

 ote, a heavy rifle over his shoulder intended 

 for bears and wolves. This day has been as 

 hot and dusty as the first, leading over gently 

 sloping brown hills, with mostly the same 

 vegetation, excepting the strange-looking 

 Sabine pine (Pinus Sabiniana), which here 

 forms small groves or is scattered among the 

 blue oaks. The trunk divides at a height of fif- 

 teen or twenty feet into two or more stems, 

 outleaning or nearly upright, with many 

 straggling branches and long gray needles, 

 casting but little shade. In general appearance 

 this tree looks more like a palm than a pine. 

 The cones are about six or seven inches long, 

 [ '5 ] 



