A VISIT TO THE BIG TIJEES. 297 



bend our steps in the first place to the Mammoth 

 Tree Grove, in Calaveras county, about 150 miles 

 east of San Francisco, on the western slope of the 

 Sierra Xevada. "NVe went on board the Cornelia, 

 accordingly, one evening, and steamed all night \ip 

 the San Joaquin, a tributary of the Sacramento a 

 narrow muddy stream, running in a most tortuous 

 channel through an extensive marshy delta. The 

 tall reeds which covered the flat expanse were on fire 

 for miles, almost to the water's edge, and we made 

 our way through a sea of flame and smoke, the whole 

 country being lighted up by the vast conflagration. 

 At eight o'clock the following morning we reached 

 Stockton city, and then took the stage -waggon for 

 Columbia, fifty-eight miles distant, and thirteen from 

 the Big Tree Valley. The first portion of the road 

 lay along a broad rich valley, brought almost entirely 

 under the plough, where the undisturbed stubbles 

 told of a fertility unknown in the Old World ; for so 

 generous is the soil, that luxuriant crops spring up in 

 the second year without the labour of man, the grain 

 shaken out in the gathering of the first harvest being 

 sufficient for the succeeding one, a "volunteer crop." 

 Although it was past mid-winter the end of January 

 the weather was bright and warm as the most 

 genial May ; rows of oleanders and heliotropes 

 bloomed in the gardens, ignorant of wintry cold, 

 and strawberries ripened on the sunniest slopes. 

 Towards evening we began to ascend the lowest 



