THE SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS 



Next day the chaparral, in ascending the 

 eastern rim of the basin, was, if possible, denser 

 and more stubbornly bayoneted than ever. I 

 followed bear trails, where in some places I 

 found tufts of their hair that had been pulled 

 out in squeezing a way through; but there was 

 much of a very interesting character that far 

 overpaid all my pains. Most of the plants are 

 identical with those of the Sierra, but there are 

 quite a number of Mexican species. One conif- 

 erous tree was all I found. This is a spruce of 

 a species new to me, Douglasii macrocarpa.^ 



My last camp was down at the narrow, 

 notched bottom of a dry channel, the only 

 open way for the life in the neighborhood. 

 I therefore lay between two fires, built to fence 

 out snakes and wolves. 



From the smnmit of the eastern rim I had a 

 glorious view of the valley out to the ocean, 

 which would require a whole book for its de- 

 scription. My bread gave out a day before 

 reaching the settlements, but I felt all the 

 fresher and clearer for the fast. 



* [The spruce, or hemlock, then known as Abies Douglasii 

 var. macrocarpa is now called Pseudotsuga mcu^ocarpa.] 



