TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 
399 
and in some other sections of Upper California, generally on 
elevated localities. My readers must not think of Baron 
Munchausen, when I offer to vouch for the fact that specimens 
of this tree occur of the height of two hundred and forty feet, 
the base of whose trunks have a circumference of nearly sixty 
feet. The trunk is quite destitute of branches until above 
more than half the altitude, when they grow outward and up¬ 
ward in such a manner as to give the top the form of an 
inverted pyramid. From the ends of the branches hang the 
cones or seed-vessels, from twelve to fifteen inches in length, 
and egg-shaped. The seeds are as large as a good-sized 
bean, and furnish a common article of food to the Indians, 
who collect large quantities of them in the autumn, and pound 
them into a kind of cake, which is baked on heated stones. 
The wood is very fine-grained, and contains a great quantity 
of resin. 
The Pinus Sabinii , P. Lambertiana , P. nobilis , and P 
resinosa , are also fine species, though less in size than their 
gigantic relative. The former is, however, a large tree, being 
often found one hundred and ten feet high, and from ten to 
twelve in diameter. Among the elevated plains of Upper 
California it grows quite plentifully, as also on the low hills, 
near the coast, where it attains a larger size. The natives 
frequently build their fires against these trees to save the 
trouble of collecting fuel. By this means, also, a sweet 
gum is made to exude from the trunk, which serves + hem for 
sugar. 
The White Oak grows on the low and level parts of the 
country. It is not generally a large tree, being from forty to 
fifty feet high, and from two to three feet in diameter at the 
base. The top is extremely thick and leafy, forming an 
almost impenetrable mass of boughs. It is in some places 
very abundant. 
The Quercus navalis occupies the prairies, river banks, and 
lower hills, and is four or five feet in diameter, with branches 
dimensions 
60 
of corresponding 
extending horizontally from the 
