X FLOWERS AND FORESTS OF THE FAR WEST 227 



in the forest bogs, while in open ground near the " Big 

 Tree " Hotel, exquisite little blue Nemophilas, yellow 

 Mimulus, and a tall Echinospermum with Rowers like a 

 large forget-me-not, were very abundant. Among these 

 and many other strange flowers one British species was 

 found, often starring the ground under the giant trees 

 with its delicate flowers. This was the little chickweed 

 winter-green (Trientcdis UtorojJcea), only differing from our 

 native plant in the flowers being pale pink instead of 

 white. 



Even if we leave out of consideration the giant Sequoias, 

 the forests of the Sierra Nevada would stand pre-eminent 

 for the beauty and grandeur of their pines, firs, and cedars. 

 Three of these, the white 2)ine, the red cedar, and the 

 sugar- pine are, nofc unfrequently, more than six feet in 

 diameter at five or six feet above the ground, whence the 

 giant trunks taper very gradually upwards. One sugar- 

 pine near the Big-Tree Hotel was found to be seven feet 

 two inches in diameter at five feet above the ground. A 

 red cedar measured at the same height was seven feet 

 diameter, and one of the white pines five feet nine inches. 

 The height of the above-named sugar-pine was measured 

 approximately by means of its shadow, and found to be 

 225 feet, and I was assured that one which had been cut 

 down near the hotel was 252 feet high. The Douglas fir in 

 the forest of British Columbia is said to surpass these di- 

 mensions considerably, being often ten feet or even twelve 

 feet diameter, and near 300 feet high. Probably in no 

 other part of the world than the west coast of North 

 America is there such a magnificent group of trees as 

 these ; yet they are all far exceeded by two others in- 

 habiting the same country, the two Sequoias — S. gigantea 

 and >S^. sempervirens. 



The Big Trees of California. 



In the popular accounts of these trees it is usual to 

 dwell only on the dimensions of the very largest known 

 specimens, and sometimes even to exaggerate these. 

 Even the smaller full-grown trees, however, are of grand 



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