230 CALIFORNIA DESERT TRAILS 



The changes in vegetation as we climbed were 

 full of interest, though the circumstances were not 

 the best for noting them. In the wet creek bottom 

 grew masses of the same wonderful lobelia, often 

 six feet tall and with flowering heads a foot in length. 

 Sycamores and alders mingled with the willows, yet 

 here and there the desert-loving palms held on, 

 though the altitude was well over three thousand 

 feet. On the open mountain-side the wild plum was 

 common, now hung thickly with yellow fruit. The 

 California sumac, Rhus ovata, made blots of heavy 

 color on the pale background of rock. A little higher 

 the mountain mahogany, Cercocarpus, came in, an 

 attractive, individual bush, at this time silvery with 

 the silky seed-vessels. Then scrub-oaks appeared, 

 and next the ever-welcome juniper. Yuccas still 

 held their own on rocky ledges, looking strangely 

 out of place. Yet higher, masses of dull gold that 

 had been puzzling me proved to be groves of the 

 interesting Adenostoma sparsijolium or false cedar, 

 with bright red bark, slender foliage, and huge clus- 

 ters of white blossom that were now faded to golden 

 brown. The sturdy manzanita was another goodly 

 sight; but most so of all, on nearing the crest, the 

 pines, often sighed for, who now gave me kingly 

 welcome. On this high sky-line they were finely 

 pictorial and as much the unquestioned monarchs 

 as ever. I have heard that it is a custom in mountain- 

 ous parts of Spain to brush the face of a new-bom 

 child with a twig from a pine. I think something of 

 the kind has happened to me, for among these trees 

 I find that my face unconsciously takes on a smile. 



