124 MR - HARTWEG'S JOURNAL OF A MISSION TO CALIFORNIA. 



sp. ; a Vaccinium; Gaultheria Shallon ; arid an evergreen Primus, 

 No. 102, resembling the Portugal Laurel. Of annuals and per- 

 ennials, No. 13; Hugelia, No. 5 ; Delphinium, 3 sp., No. 24, 

 26, 61 ; Leptosiphon androsaceus and densiflorus ; Collinsia bi- 

 color ; Convolvulus, No. 23 ; Malva, No. 25 ; Lupinus succu- 

 lentus, and densiflorus ; Castilleja, No. 39 ; CEnothera, No. 3, 

 44 ; Chironia, No. 64. Of bulbs, Calochortus luteus, Cyclo- 

 bothra alba, Brodisea congesta, Calliprora flava, Hesperoscordum 

 lacteum, and a Zygadenus called Amole, of which the bruised 

 roots serve as a substitute for soap. 



On June the 22nd, I left Monterey for the mission of Santa 

 Cruz, in company with an American gentleman, who obligingly 

 furnished me with a horse for the occasion. Santa Cruz is across 

 the bay, due north, of Monterey, and at a distance of sixty miles 

 by land, whilst by water it does not exceed twenty-five miles. 

 Passing along the sea-shore over the plains, which present the 

 same vegetation as about Monterey, we arrived in the afternoon 

 at the mission, after a gallop of seven hours. This speed is the 

 usual mode of Californian travelling ; on longer journeys some 

 horses are driven before, to serve on the following days. 



The mountains of Santa Cruz are well wooded with Taxodium 

 sempervirens, called by the American settlers redwood or bastard 

 cedar. In close forests it grows to an enormous size, averaging 

 200 feet in height, with a stem of 6 to 8 feet in diameter, which 

 is as straight as an arrow, and clear of branches up to 60 or 

 70 feet. One tree, that is termed by the Americans " the giant 

 of the forest," is 270 feet high, with a stem measuring 55 feet 

 in circumference at 6 feet from the ground. The bark of the 

 redwood is from 6 to 12 inches thick, reddish and smooth; the 

 timber is of a beautiful red colour, like pencil-wood, fine, close- 

 grained, light but brittle ; it is well adapted for in and out door 

 work, as the boards when seasoned do not warp, nor is it attacked 

 by insects. Large quantities of lumber are annually exported to 

 the Sandwich Islands; 1000 feet of 1-inch boards, delivered on 

 the beach at Santa Cruz, are worth 8/. 



Some fine trees of Abies Douglasii are found in the mountains 

 of Santa Cruz ; they do not form masses of themselves, but are 

 thinly scattered among the redwood trees, with which they vie 

 in size. The mountain oak (No. 84, Castanea chrysophylla ?) 

 also occurs here, forming a tree 50 feet high, of a pyramidal 

 shape, with persistent lanceolate leaves four inches long, ser- 

 rulate on the margin ; below they are covered with a rusty, 

 yellowish down, which in the young leaves also covers the upper 

 surface. The fructiferous catkins are produced on the points of 

 last year's wood, and do not exceed 2 inches in length, whilst 

 the catkins on the young wood are from 4 to 5 inches long, and 



