MR. HARTWEG'S JOURNAL OF A MISSION TO CALIFORNIA. 187 



tinue to produce for a much greater length of time, and they 

 will also in this way grow more robust and healthy, a circum- 

 stance no doubt due to the great circulation of air which plays 

 constantly around them. 



XXIX. — Journal of a Mission to California in search of 

 Plants. By Mr. Theodor Hartweg, in the service of the 

 Horticultural Society. Part III. Continued from Vol. II., 

 p. 121. 



(Received May 10, 1847.) 



On July the 2nd I returned to Monterey, on board of an 

 American bark, after a passage of four hours, and found that 

 Commodore Sloat had arrived in the ' Savannah,' accompanied 

 by two sloops of war. In consequence of a rupture between the 

 United States' forces and the Mexicans, near Matamoros, 

 wherein the latter were defeated, the American Commodore, on 

 the 7th, landed a party of marines and seamen, and hoisted the 

 American flag without opposition. 



The few days of absence produced a great change even in the 

 vegetation ; the fields and woods, which before were covered 

 with flowers, are now gradually drying up from the total absence 

 of rain during the summer months ; even the bulbous plants 

 had, during that time, shed their flowers and ripened their 

 seeds. 



As yet I have not succeeded in procuring horses, Castro 

 having taken all the available horses away, in order to mount 

 the militia, with which he intended to have marched against the 

 Americans. Under these circumstances I cannot venture far 

 away from Monterey, nor is it advisable that I should do so, as 

 I might fall in with a party of country people, who could not be 

 persuaded that a person would come all the way from London to 

 look after weeds, which in their opinion are not worth picking 

 up, but might suppose that I have some political object in view ; 

 I, therefore, confine my excursions within a few miles of the 

 town. 



Crossing the wooded heights near Monterey I arrived at Car- 

 mel Bay, after an easy walk of two hours ; here I found Dier- 

 villa, No. 47 ; Cupressus macrocarpa, No. 143, attaining the 

 height of 60 feet, and a stem of 9 feet in circumference, with 

 far-spreading branches, flat at the top like a full-grown cedar of 

 Lebanon, which it closely resembles at a distance ; Eschscholtzia 

 crocea, E. californica, Platystemon californicum, a scarlet Cas- 

 tilleja, a Mesembryanthemum, resembling M. rubrocinctum ; 

 Cheiranthus, No. 94 ; Stenactis speciosa, an Echeveria, 



