THE LONGEVITY OF TREES. 109 



To give our readers some idea of the hardships which this 

 indefatigable collector endured, and the risks at which our 

 nurseries have been stocked with the trees, and our gardens 

 with the now familiar flowers of Oregon and California, we 

 extract from the journal of Douglas a portion of the account 

 of his visit to a group of these Lambert Pines ; merely re- 

 marking that it seems to afford a fair specimen of the perils 

 which he continually incurred. Poor fellow ! to have the life 

 at last stamped out of him by a mad bullock in a pit, while 

 pursuing his researches upon one of the Sandwich Islands ! 



" Thursday, the 25th. Weather dull, cold, and cloudy. 

 When my friends in England are made acquainted with my 

 travels, I fear they will think that I have told nothing but 

 my miseries. This may be true ; but I now know, as they may 

 do also, if they choose to come here on such an expedition, 

 that the objects of which I am in quest cannot be obtained 

 without labor, anxiety of mind, and no small risk of personal 

 safety, of which latter statement my this day's adventures 

 are an instance. I quitted my camp early in the morning, 

 to survey the neighboring country, leaving my guide to 

 take charge of the horses until my return in the evening, 

 when I found that he had done as I wished, and in the inter- 

 val dried some wet paper which I had desired him to put in 

 order. About an hour's walk from my camp I met an In- 

 dian, who, on perceiving me, instantly strung his bow, placed 

 on his left arm a sleeve of raccoon skin, and stood on the de- 

 fensive. Being quite satisfied that this conduct was prompted 

 by fear, and not by hostile intentions, the poor fellow having 

 probably never seen such a being as myself before, I laid my 

 gun at my feet on the ground, and waved my hand for him 

 to come to me, which he did, slowly and with great caution. 

 I then made him place his bow and quiver of arrows beside 

 my gun, and, striking a light, gave«him a smoke out of my 

 own pipe, and a present of a few beads. With my pencil I 

 made a rough sketch of the cone and Pine-tree which I 

 wanted to obtain, and drew his attention to it, when he in- 

 stantly pointed with his hand to the hills fifteen or twenty 

 miles distant towards the south ; and when I expressed my 



