Marcli 14, 191 1 21 



The day previous to her sailing I applied to Commodore vStoat 

 for a passage backed by a letter of introduction from an influen- 

 tial house in Mazatlan, but I was told by him in a very few 

 words that he could not serve me; that under the present cir- 

 cumstances, when a rupture between the United States and 

 Mexico was hourly expected, he could not let his movements be 

 known; thus wishing to keep the 'Portsmouth's' destination 

 secret — her purpose being well known three weeks before she 

 sailed. 



"More successful was an application I made about the be- 

 ginning of May to Rear-Admiral Sir George Seymour of H. M. 

 S. 'Collingwood,' who kindly allowed me a passage on H. M. S. 

 'Juno' then proceeding to Monterey. Towards evening of the 

 nth of May, I went on board, and, sailing the following morn- 

 ing, we arrived at Monterey on Sunday the 7th of June, after a 

 passage of twenty-six days. 



"On the Sth I delivered my letters of introduction, and the 

 following morning I settled down in the quiet little town of 

 Monterey. 



"The verdant fields and pine-covered range of mountains at 

 the back of the town form a pleasing contrast to the dried-up veg- 

 etation about ]\Iazatlan. The predominating tree is an evergreen 

 oak (Quercu.s Californica (1), forming a tree 30 feet high, with a 

 globular crown, and having the branches much distorted. It occurs 

 principally in low but dry situations. The higher parts are occu- 

 pied by Pinus insignis, a tree 60 to 100 feet high, with a stem 2 

 to 4 feet in diameter. This species is liable to vary much in the 

 size of the leaves (which stand in threes) and in the cones (ac- 

 cording to local circumstances). In close woods a mile or two 

 from the sea-shore, at an elevation of 200 to 300 feet, the leaves 

 usually measure 4^ to 5^ inches, and cones 4 to 45^ inches in 

 length by 2 ^/^ broad; toward the beach where the trees are 

 mostly one-sided — a defect caused by north-west winds, which 

 blow for the greater part of the year — both leaves and cones di- 

 minish in size. 



(1) Ol'RRCUS AGRIFOIJA. 



