Companion to the Botanical Magazine. 581 



devoured every particle of seed I had collected, eat clean through a bundle of 

 dried plants, and carried off my soap-brush and razor ! As one was taking away 

 my inkstand, which I had been using shortly before, and which lay close to my 

 pillow, I raised my gun, which, with my faithful dog, always is placed under my 

 blanket by my side, with the muzzle to my feet, and hastily gave him the con- 

 tents. When I saw how large and strong a creature this rat was, I ceased to 

 wonder at the exploits of the herd in depriving me of my property. The body 

 and tail together measured a foot and a half, the back is brown, the belly white ; 

 while the tail and enormous ears are each three-quarters of an inch long, with 

 whiskers three inches long, and jet black. Unfortunately the specimen was 

 spoiled by the size of the shot, which in my haste to secure the animal and re- 

 cover my ink-stand, I did not take time to change ; but a female of the same 

 sort venturing to return some hours after, I handed it a smaller shot, which did 

 not destroy the skin. It was in all respects like the other, except being a little 

 smaller." — P. 115. 



" About an hour's walk from my camp, (in North California,) I met an Indian, 

 who, on perceiving me, instantly strung his bow, placed on his left arm a sleeve 

 of racoon skin, and stood on the defensive. 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 instantly pointed to the hills fifteen or twenty miles distant towards 

 the south ; and when I expressed my intention of going thither, cheerfully set 

 about accompanying me. At mid-day I reached my long-wished-for pines, and 

 lost no time in examining them, and endeavouring to collect specimens and seeds. 

 New and strange things seldom fail to make strong impressions, and are there- 

 fore frequently over-rated ; so that lest I should never again see my friends in 

 England to inform them verbally of this most beautiful and immensely grand 

 tree, I shall here state the dimensions of the largest I could find among several 

 that had been blown down by the wind. At three feet from the ground its cir- 

 cumference is 57 feet 9 inches ; at one hundred and thirty- four feet, 17 feet 5 

 inches ; the extreme length 245 feet. The trunks are uncommonly straight, and 

 the bark remarkably smooth for such large timber, of a whitish or light-brown 

 colour, and yielding a great quantity of bright amber gum. The tallest stems 

 are generally unbranched for two-thirds of the height of the tree ; the branches 

 rather pendulous, with cones hanging from their points like sugar-loaves in a 

 grocer's shop. These cones, however, are seen only on the loftiest trees, and 

 the putting myself in possession of three of them, (all I could obtain,) nearly 

 brought my life to a close. As it was impossible either to climb the tree or 

 hew it down, I endeavoured to knock off the cones by firing at them with ball, 

 when the report of my gun brought eight Indians, all of them painted with red 

 earth, armed with bows, arrows, bone-tipped spears, and flint-knives. They 

 appeared any thing but friendly. I endeavoured to explain to them what I 

 wanted, and they seemed satisfied, and sat down to smoke ; but presently I per- 

 ceived one of them string his bow, and another sharpen his flint-knife with a 



