the fea-coaft, by the word trail that I ever travelled in this or any other country. After palling the divide, and dcfcending to the well, I
fell in with the tree, occupying the mountain-fides as well as the ravines, and not ' exclufively the ravines,' as defcribed by Hartweg. I was
greatly difappointed in finding the cones too ripe to be able to obtain a fupply of feed. I tried cutting the top off; but a few drokes of
the hatchet fliattered the cones in pieces, and fcattered the feeds to the winds. The only plan was to climb to a moll dangerous height
and pick off the few cones which could be reached. They went to pieces in my hand the moment they were touched. The concs only
occupy a few feet of the top, hence the difficulty and danger of obtaining them. 1 have never fecn any defcription that does judice to this
molt beautiful of all the firs. It rifes to the height of 130 feet, ftraight as a line, the trunk tapering regularly from the ground to the top;
clothed with branches, which are Aim and graceful, down to the ground; the outlines of the branches taper almofl as regularly as the trunk,
giving the appearance of an 'elongated pyramid,' as Hartweg defcribes it; but I would rather call it a tall fpire, with a pyramidal bafe of
two-thirds of the lower part of the tree. The pencil of the artifl could not give it a more regular lhape than it appears in nature. I faw
no tree deprived of its lower branches, except in thickets where it was impoflible for them to grow ; there was none, with the above
exceptions, that 1 could not dep from the ground on to its branches. Not the leafl remarkable thing is, that thefe branches bear fine foliage
down to the ground, and the branchlets often touch the ground. I have found it occupying exclufively the calcareous didrifts abounding with
ledges of white, veined, and grey marble. We encamped for the night on the point of a ridge, the only place to be found level, and large
enough to make down our beds; in the evening it commenced raining, and increafed into a regular driving ftorm. We paffed the mod
horrible night that ever fell to my lot to experience; we were totally unprovided, as there was no appearance of a ftorm when we lay down
a Ihort time after dark. We had provided wood only to cook with, and we were obliged to get it with great labour, and at the rilk of
breaking our necks, to keep from freezing. With great difficulty we kept our fire up until morning. The mountains here are as Aeep as
the laws of gravity will admit, and in a date of decompofition ; rocks from the ledges above were fet at liberty by the rains, and came tumbling
down pad us, making a fearful cralhing among the trees, increafing in fpecd until they landed among the rocks at the bottom of the ravine
below us, with a noife which fent its reverberations up among the hills like peals of thunder. The impenetrable darknefs of the night, the
howl of the temped, the cralhing of falling rocks, together with the feverity of the cold rain, almod fnow, made the night truly awful.
We faw a large grizzly bear jult before dark, and plenty of frelh tracks everywhere, which added nothing to the enjoyments of the night.
Daylight came at lall, and with it a clear Iky, which I hailed with more gratitude, I think, than I ever did in my life, thankful that I was alive.
" I had intended to have fpent a portion of the day in collecting what few feeds 1 could; but the dorm had beaten them off, fo that
the attempts in this vicinity were ufelefs. After paffing the fird ridge, 1 defcended into a deep gulch where there were a few trees, and
found the feeds all gone. I defcended again on the north fide, and found one fmall tree that had a few ihattercd cones left, and obtained
a handful. I attempted to cut off the top, but the firll few drokes of the hatchet knocked them all off, and I was obliged to give it up for
the feafon. We reached Monterey after an abfence of nine days. We had killed on the trip four deer, three antelopes, one hare, one wildcat,
and feen two grizzly bears."—(Murray, in Edin. Neio Phil, jo/trn., toe. cil.fupra)
Mr Lobb again vifited this di ft riot in 1857, to procure an additional fupply of feeds, but was not fo
fuccefsful as on the former occafion. He found that the feeds were, like thofe of Pinus nobilis, fubjeel:
to the attacks of an infedt in their green ftate, from which, of courfe, no precaution in the way of gathering,
drying, or packing, can protect them.
The laft expedition to procure feeds, of which we know, is one in 1858, undertaken by M r William
Peebles; but his expedition produced little more than the preceding ones. Notwithftanding that he was
a month earlier than Beardfley, he was (till too late. He returned on September 17. He found that
the cones were fo ripe that the trees could not be cut (which was the ufual method adopted in procuring
cones from the Pines in former expeditions), without fcattering all the cones to the winds; fo that all
he got was obtained by climbing the trees and carefully picking the cones. This difficulty in reaching
the fpot at the right time is explained by a remark of Hartweg's in regard to other plants. " Being now
aware of the rapidity of Californian vegetation, I loft no time in colleifting fuch feeds as were worth taking,
and returned to my head-quarters by the beginning of May. Moll kinds had, during the fortnight after
I firft faw them in flower, ripened their feeds."
Thefe, we think, are all the attempts to introduce feeds into this country which have been made.
It will be feen that the quantity introduced has been very trifling, and the plants are confequently ftill
fcarce. Nor is there a probability of their being more plentiful, for it is not likely that any frefh expedition
will be tried until the country is more opened up. The expenfe, danger, chance of bad feed, and
fmall returns, will deter any one from trying it as a mercantile fpeculation ; and there is little in the diftrici
to induce an explorer to try fuch difficult ground, particularly now that it has been already examined.
Properties and Ufes.—Mr Peebles mentions that the padres of the Miffion ufe the refin of the tree
for incenfe. It melts very eafily under heat. A package of it fent to this country, wrapped up in cotton
[ 13 ] i! cloth,