The John Muir Newsletter, Spring/Summer 2007
The John Muir University of the Pacific, Stocktoi, CA BER2/3 Sprint; Summer 2< John Muir's World Tour (part V) Lex Chalmers, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand Preface by W. R. Swagerty, Director, John Muir Center This past spring, I had the good fortune to travel to New Zealand an...
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| Summary: | The John Muir University of the Pacific, Stocktoi, CA BER2/3 Sprint; Summer 2< John Muir's World Tour (part V) Lex Chalmers, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand Preface by W. R. Swagerty, Director, John Muir Center This past spring, I had the good fortune to travel to New Zealand and Australia through sponsorship of the J. William Fulbright Program of the U.S. State Department. At University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand on the North Island, Dean Daniel Zirker introduced me to Professor Lex Chalmers, a distinguished geographer and researcher on his faculty. It turns out that Professor Chalmers had plans to travel to the United States on family business. After learning my interest in following John Muir's trail from his 1904 visit to New Zealand, Lex agreed to help with this project. In May, Chalmers visited us in Stockton and spent time in the John Muir Papers, clarifying the route and obtaining pertinent transcripts and details from the manuscripts. The document that resulted is his excellent work, not mine. I am indebted to Chalmers and the University of Waikato for the time spent helping the world better understand Muir's unpublished travels in New Zealand from the difficult-to-read notebooks that he kept while traveling abroad, and from Linnie Marsh Wolfe's transcriptions from the 1940s or 1950s. We are planning a more extensive academic publication from this preliminary work and share with you the fifth of six segments in the piece that follows. WRS John Muir's remarkable 'World Tour' began on May 29, 1903 with his departure from New York, and ended almost exactly a year later when he arrived back in San Francisco on May 27,1904. For most of this time Muir maintained a detailed daily journal, commenting on the botany, geomorphology and the patterns of human occupance that he encountered. These journals, closely written in pencil and often illustrated, are held in the Holt-Atherton Collection at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Ca. The collection also holds some of Muir's correspondence written during his travels, and part of the Library collection he established. The journals have attracted scholarly attention, most notably in the transcription work undertaken by Linnie Marsh Wolfe to support her commentaries and 1946 biography of John Muir (Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir). Wolfe's biography, not without its critics, place her at the forefront of commentators on John Muir's contribution to conservation, and her work was recognised by the award of the Pulitzer Prize for biography. Her typescript records of John Muir's journals are an important contribution and they provide the best research source for (Continued on page 6) page 1 Jews John Muir in the New World Proposed Film Documentary with Director Catherine Tatge PRESS RELEASE Source: Global Village Media/PRNewswire/USNewswire New York, July 18, 2007 The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded a grant of $80,000 to Global Village Media in support of their new documentary, "John Muir in the New World." The grant will be used during the scripting phase of the project. John Muir is one of the tall trees in environmentalism and western ecological thinking. He was one of the first conservationists in American history and is still revered widely as the founder of the conservation movement in this country. It is due to his splendid vision that the American landscape has retained so much of its grandeur. Not only did he have an enormous impact on the American West at the turn of the 20th century, his vision also survived long after his death. His values were taken up as a spiritual standard by generations of American activists. He taught all of us to see ourselves again as creations of Nature. For these reasons Global Village Media, GreatFull Productions and NewStory Ventures of Seattle are embarking on a two-hour biographical documentary of the extraordinary life and influence of this influential naturalist. We are also proud to announce that this project has been designated a National Endowment for the Humanities "We the People" project and is being supported in part by funds the agency has set aside for this special initiative. The goal of the "We the People" initiative is to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture through the support of projects that explore significant events and themes in our nation's history and culture and that advance knowledge of the principles that define America. A production of Global Village Media, GreatFull Productions and NewStory Ventures. Executive Producers: Stephen Boyd, Peter Evans, Catherine Tatge Producer: Dan Kowalski, Dominique Lasseur Director: Catherine Tatge Writer: Leslie Clark Advisors on this project include: Harvey Green, Northeastern University, Patricia Nelson Limerick, University of Colorado; Char Miller, Trinity University, Paul Sutter, University of Georgia, and Donald Worster, University of Kansas. Source: Global Village Media Contact: Dominique Lasseur, Global Village Media, Executive Director, (212) 222-5677, or fax, (212) 222-7512, dlasseur@icpmedia.com. **************************************************** John Muir Center Conference Announcement University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA The 57th California History Institute, the legacy of Pacific historians Rockwell Hunt and Coke Wood, will be held on campus at Pacific April 25, 26, 2008 and will focus on "John A. Sutter and His World." Award-winning author and historian, Albert L. Hurtado (B.A., M.A. Sacramento State University; Ph.D. UCSB, 1980) will keynote the luncheon on April 26 with remanks from his new book, John A. Sutter: A Life on the North American Frontier (University of Oklahoma Press, 2007). Other Sutter specialists will also present papers. A field trip to Sutter's Old Fort and to the American gold discovery site at Coloma is planned for Friday, April 25. A registration will be required. E-mail iohnmuir(a),pacific,edu or wswagerty(a),pacific.edu if interested in the field trip, attending the sessions and luncheon, or presenting a paper at the Conference. Pacific alumni are encouraged to attend. The John Muir Newsletter Volume 17, Number 2/3 SPRING/SUMMER 20071 Published Quarterly by The John Muir Center for Environmental Studies University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA 95211 ♦ STAFF ♦ Director W.R. Swagerty Editor W.R. Swagerty Production Assistant Marilyn Norton Unless otherwise noted, all photographic reproductions are courtesy of the John Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections University of the Pacific Libraries. Copyright 1984 Muir-Hanna Trust This Newsletter is printed on recycled paper page 2 John Sutter ca. 1850 (photo taken from John Sutter: A Life on the North American Frontier) ***************************************************** Pacific Freshmen Experience the Wonders of Yosemite This past September 14 and 15, approximately 100 of the 800 or so freshmen in the class of 2011 loaded up sleeping bags, backpacks, and hiking boots into three large motor coaches bound for Yosemite National Park. Funded by the Student Life Division of the University, this experiment was designed to introduce incoming freshmen to Pacific's connection with John Muir, the aesthetics of wilderness values, environmental issues in Yosemite National Park, and civic responsibility. Students were escorted around by twenty officers and faculty of the University, including three Vice Presidents and Provost Philip Gilbertson. GS**tf Highlights of the two-day experience included a campfire session with Muir-actor-interpreter Lee Stetson, who fielded questions from inquisitive freshmen and long-time visitors to Yosemite. In the voice of John Muir, Stetson provided his usual honest and authoritative reflections on the creation, history, and present conditions of California's most famous scenic wonder. Students also performed community service projects during their stay, helping to clear Himalayan blackberries from one section of the Valley, measuring giant sequoias, and helping Yosemite Institute personnel take water samples in major waterways within the park. Most students also hiked to Vernal Falls, one of Muir's favorite water features within the Valley. About one in five had been in Yosemite prior to this experience. Most had heard of John Muir or at least recognized him from the California state quarter, schools and other institutions named in his honor, or memories of fourth grade California history lessons. Still, the challenge of meaningful environmental education of students on Muir, his significance and his legacy, is one that demands more resources and focus, even at a place like Pacific, whichhouses most of Muir's manuscripts. This pilot trip is expected to be repeated in years to come, with an even larger number of students participating in 2008. A second trip for the class of 2011 to John Muir's home in Martinez is envisioned for spring term and all 800 freshmen are reading Muir in Pacific Seminar I this fall. In addition, Professor Swagerty will be teaching "John Muir's World: The Rise of the Modem Conservation Movement." Trips to Martinez, Calaveras Big Trees State Park, and a two-night campout in Yosemite are part of the course. Professor Donald E. Worster Visits the John Mum Papers and Speaks at Pacific Donald E. Worster, Joyce and Elizabeth Hall Professor of U. S. History and Director of the Graduate Program in History at the University of Kansas, visited Stockton in early December to complete his research for a forthcoming major biography of John Muir. To be published by Oxford University Press, the new look at Muir promises the most in-depth look yet at Muir's entire life. Dr. Worster earned his doctorate at Yale in 1971 and has published extensively on the U.S. West, Environmental History of North America, and American social and cultural history. His most recent book, A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell (Oxford, 2001) won many prizes. Earlier works include Dust Bowl; The Wealth of Nature; Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas; and Under Western Skies. page 3 Louie Muir's One and Only Trip to Yosemite By Michael Wurtz Archivist, Holt-Atherton Special Collections University of the Pacific Library During the first week of July 1884, John Muir and his wife Louie left for Louie's first and only trip to Yosemite. They intended to stay "2 or 3 weeks," but only lasted about 10 days before they returned to their 3-year-old daughter, Wanda at their home in Martinez, California. Much of Muir's life is well documented through letters and journals, but on this trip, there are only three letters from John and Louie, and one from Louie's parents who were taking care of Wanda. There appears to be no journals or notebooks from the trip and no letters after the trip describing what happened. Most books that mention the Muirs' 1884 trip to Yosemite indicate that Louie was no mountaineer and that the Muirs spent most of the trip worrying about "the baby" back home. Shirley Sargent and Jean Hanna Clark, Wanda's daughter, published two of the letters from the trip and added a few notes about the journey in Dear Papa: Letters between John Muir ana his Daughter Wanaa. According to Sargent, John Muir had been working especially hard in the spring of 1884 and "needed a vacation, but refused to leave the ranch. Louie talked him into taking her to Yosemite Valley." The two left on or about July 2 and took what was probably a three-day journey via Stockton, Milton, Copperopolis, and Chinese Camp. Louie's only letter from Yosemite was written July 6 to "Grandpa and Grandma" Strentzel. In it, John and Louie demonstrate how anxious they were about leaving the baby home. "John's eyes fill with tears whenever I speak of the baby," and "he entreats you to keep the baby away from hot water and from those hall doors." Louie emphatically asked for frequent telegrams from her parents, "if [Wanda] needs me I will come home at once," and even asks for a lock of Wanda's hair. Although the trip across the central valley and along the foothills was "perfectly awful," Louie found the Yosemite Valley beautiful and adopted her husband's writing style. "The falls are glorious, the beautiful river brimming full, and the moonlight is marvelous on the foaming water and grand rock temples of God." Despite the beauty in the Valley, Louie was "anxious" about John and hoped that he would stay in the Valley until "he is well and strong again I ought to stay 2 or 3 weeks here, but we will see." She ended this letter reminding the Strentzels to "put a large lump of camphor [mothballs] in the piano, the wardrobe, and my large boxes in John's room." On July 10, John wrote his first ever letter to "Little Wanda." He described the trip to Yosemite, "Mama and Papa got on to the cars and the poogh poogh pulled us to Stockton and there were many mosquitoes in Stockton and they stung Mama, and wouldn't let her sleep." As would be expected in July, the stage ride from Milton to Yosemite was hot, but entertaining. The "squirrels were afraid of the horses and ran into the trees to bark like 'Bruno.' Sometimes we jumped out of the buggy to gather pretty flowers." The first meals in the Valley were culinarily peculiar. John and Louie, "jumped out of the buggy and went into a big house to live till we got home. They were fed, but the bread was sour, the butter old, the meat tough and the coffee and tea bad. They switched to another "big house" (Shirley Sargent suggests that it was Leidig's Hotel) where they were treated to a better, but unusual, breakfast. "An Indian man with long black hair, who never washed his face" had brought trout for breakfast. Much to the chagrin of John, Louie misidentified the trout as catfish even though "catfish have beards and whiskers." Muir noted, "Papa said to Mama, 'What a funny breakfast this is, ice-cream and [fish] instead page 4 of mush and milk' but we had mush and milk too and venison and mutton and ham and eggs and tread." John Muir wrote much or the Valley's noisy wildlife for Wanda. However, "falling water coming down out of the sky makes a far louder noise and that is the sound we hear most,. but there is no telephone to make baby hear." He enclosed a "pretty flower that opens at night and shines when the stars come into the sky," and he asked Wanda not to fall down any stairs or eat anything that will make her sick. The Muirs mentioned that they had received a letter from Grandpa that everything is going well, so "do not hurry down." There is a mention of many letters from the Strentzels to the Muirs, out only one exists in the John Muir Papers. On July 14, they reported that the "Laky is fine. Perfectly contented, ever since you went away." The home was also fine. They had "brought John's papers and all your most valuable things over here" since there was a questionable former employee and not very good locks on the doors. "Stay as long as you like and see all you possibly can, for you have waited a long while for this pleasure." The final letter (July 16) from Yosemite may indicate the reason that the Muirs were "coming home to baby tomorrow." According to Sargent, the Muirs chose to hike to Glacier Point from the Valley. "Mama and Papa climbed a high mountain, and mama got tired and so papa walked behind and pushed mama with a long stick this way, and the stick soon began to hurt mama's back, and mama was too warm, and so she took off some of her clothes, and papa tied a skirt on the end of the stick and then it did not hurt anymore." Eventually, a pack train caught up with the Muirs and Louie got a ride on one of the horses. At the top, they saw many beautiful sights. They saw evidence of bear and "mama was afraid, but papa said the bear is only looking for berries and wul not bite." Then they heard that an Indian had just spotted a bear, and that "mama was scared picking flowers for baby." That was the last description of the Muirs in Yosemite Valley. Almost two months later on September 3, Muir's sister Margaret Muir Reid wrote to him. "And so you have been to the Yosemite Valley again, and Louie with you. V/hat a glorious time you must have had." She also wondered how Louie handled being away from V/anda. This letter appears to be the only mention of Louie's trip to Yosemite either before or after the event. Louie never returned to Yosemite Valley, and it is unknown if John had ever invited her again. However, there are also plenty of gaps in the correspondence from the Muirs immediately after this trip, so it is unclear how either of them felt about their only joint wdderness sojourn. Louie and John's visit to Yosemite in the summer of 1884 may have hit a low point on a hike. John had to use a stick to push Louie up the trail as shown in his letter to their daughter on July 16. (John Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library. Copyright 1984 Muir- Hanna Trust) page 5 (Continued from page 1) contemporary scholars. There are transcription errors in Wolfe's record, but (apart from transcriptions of species names) these are few in number (Muir's handwriting is small and in pencil), and these are balanced by the minor errors John Muir made himself. These errors need emendation and notation, but they do not detract from Muir's 'seeing of the landscape' and its inhabitants, nor his ability to reflect on them. This section of the transcript is the fifth in a series published in the John Muir Newsletter since the Summer of 2005. It provides a 6500 word record of Muir's travels in New Zealand. Muir departed from Sydney, bound for Auckland on January 11, 1904 and wrote his last comments steaming away from the North Cape of New Zealand on 1 March, 1904. The immediate local impact of his visit is almost imperceptible, but the prescience of some of his comments has great interest for contemporary scholars in both the sciences and social sciences. The transcript provided below has emendations marked where appropriate in [square brackets], and the following paragraphs outline some of the areas of interest for contemporary scholars. Place names are corrected, and contemporary species are included where appropriate. The first question to ask is how had Muir prepared himself for his visit to New Zealand? Was his itinerary determined by chance? Was he aware of what awaited him? New Zealand science was very young in 1904 (the New Zealand Institute was established in 1867), the small country reported less than a million residents in the 1901 Census, and the core railway infrasfructure was not yet completed (1908). Yet, Muir could have been well informed; his journal shows he knew the work of leading scientists and botanists of the day (Hutton, February 6; Kirk, February 18 and Cheeseman, February 22) and identified and visited botanical gardens. But was he aware of the work of scientists who visited New Zealand in the preceding century; Joseph Banks, J.R. and G. Forster and Charles Darwin? Had he read Dieffenbach's (1843) Travels in New Zealand, von Hochstetter's notable Geological and Topographical Atlas of New Zealand (1864), or Buller's A History of the Birds of New Zealand (1872)? What did he know of resident New Zealand science, of Haast, Hooker and Hector? The suggestion is that he was well informed, but his mission was global rather than local. Exploration of Muir's library collection and wider works may reveal more, and it is interesting to speculate in turn on what form of publication Muir might have intended for his own journal. A second question asks: what did Muir find most worthy of comment in New Zealand? Much of his time in the central North Island (18-23 January) is spent in the volcanic regions from Rotorua to Waimangu and the mountains of the Tongariro National Park (established in 1887). His commentaries on the region are full of wonder, nowhere better illustrated than in his account of the time spent in the area around Waimangu, still being re- vegetated after the devastation of the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera. Botanically, Muir was fascinated by the growth of the Rata (Metrosideros robusta), widespread at the time, but more limited in occurrence now. Muir often referred to is prolific red blossom, but was fascinated by its growth habit. Rata often begins as an epiphyte sending roots down and around the trunk of its host, until it forms a massive, some-times hollow trunk composed of fused roots. Muir first observes Rata in Rotorua (January 17), but returns to its growth habits when in Westport (January 31) and near Kaihu (February 23/24). As a final question, what concerned Muir about New Zealand's stewardship of its environmental resources? The first ten days of his visit pass without much concern for the impacts of human activity, but on January 26 we read; Towards Wellington the hills are high, almost mountainous, with flat areas, half swampy, near sea level and rough fields still encumbered with melancholy remnants of a once glorious forest slowly being burnt out of existence for sake of grass. Muir's reaction to the wholesale transformation of the forest for pasture becomes increasingly obvious, as indicated in the following quotations from January 28, February 3, 14 and 19: All the way from Picton, even where unsettled, the forest is being gradually and ruthlessly burned for grass to future drouth [drought] and floods . All the hills, mountains and valleys between Beasley [Bealey] and Springfield treeless, grassy and rather dry and barren, given up to sheep. Strange contrast to Buller and Otira valleys whose forest exuberance is glorious. It is interesting to note the efforts of government to plant forest and groves. in this page 6 bouldery prairie region, while ruthlessly allowing wholesale destruction of native forest where only trees will grow. [This] for the sake of sheep pasture at the rate . of three to ten acres per sheep, thus making destructive floods sure and selling the country's welfare for a mess of mutton. Trees on distant mountains and hills, but very large areas cleared by fire for sheep pasture; a dismal policy fraught with ills, in great part irremediable. Muir's concerns about the destruction of the forest are well founded; New Zealand faced significant soil erosion problems in the years to follow, with major remedial action enacted in national legislation in 1941 and 1967. There are some oddities in Muir's commentary that will attract the interest of scholars. He carries some markers of his life in California. He can not pass a Sequoia gigantus without comment and his fascination with glacial processes allows him to see glacial processes in the far north of New Zealand where fluvial erosion of landscapes produced by volcanic activity are clearly the land-forming agencies. His language is predictable in places; many scenes are described as "charming," but often Muir writes much more lyrically. Muir describes a boat ride on Lake Rotomahana thus: Desolate shores reeking with boiling and spluttering springs and steam jets, over which the boat was allowed to dance and thump. The journey through the Buller Gorge is described thus: In the Buller Gorge the stage dashed through cataracts from overhanging cliffs while bushes, rain laden, were thrashing in our faces. Yet not without pleasurable enjoyment of excitement and wild scenery, and the braided rivers of South Canterbury in the following terms: Crossed many streams all of which have channels a hundred times wider than their ragged currents, wandering lost in broad beds of gravel glaciers. Muir's language is distinctive; it keeps the reader engaged and provides a view of New Zealand that deserves much wider exposure. The Linne Marsh Wolfe transcript makes the difficult source material available, but to date the exploration of this important material has attracted only one scholarly publication in New Zealand (Hall, 1987). The National Archives of New Zealand in Wellington hold photographic records of many parts of the country that Muir visited in 1904, but none that name him or his party as the subject or contributor. Work continues on establishing direct links from the archives, but we are left lamenting Muir's lack of interest in photography. There is no record of Muir purchasing photographs, as he did in Egypt. His descriptions in text of the Waimangu Geyser site, of the mountains on the volcanic plateau, the Wanganui River, the Buller Gorge, the Hermitage and the bush near Kaihu cry out for a visual record. There are field sketches that complement the text, but any more substantial commentary will need to provide indirect evidence of some of the acute observations Muir offered on the New Zealand landscape and its transformation. Reference Hall, CM. (1987) "John Muir in New Zealand," New Zealand Geographer, 3 (2) 99-103. Acknowledgment I am grateful to the staff of the Holt-Atherton Special Collections at the University of the Pacific. They hold a remarkable record of Muir's work, along with supporting materials, and manage access to these in a way that serves scholarship well. The prospect of having digital access to these records is even more encouraging for those seeking to understand the contributions of people like John Muir. In New Zealand I have been assisted by comments from Bruce Clarkson, John Robson, Don Stafford and Michael Roche. Muir's Collins Paragon Diary, for 1904, showing one page for each day January 11,1904. Sailed lor Auckland on the Ventura, one ol Claus Speckel s best boats, rather comfortable but with a bad name. [There were] a large number ol people on wharf to see friends off. Mr Geo. Webendorfer came to bid us goodbrje - a most heartrj pleasant man, who came out on the Barbarossa, and with the surgeon accompanied Mr Kling and I to the Black s Spur. Promised to send book - started at 1:00pm. Sea calm, soon the picturesqne harbour, and town and wave-beaten shores vanished. Ten of our page 7 Barbarossa acquaintances are on the sharf [shipj. All are happrj as usual in setting forth on a new trip. January 12. Bright weather, few clouds. Wind freshening. A good many passengers vanishing from sight on account of sea-sickness, though the motion as vjet is slight. Many flrjing fish are seen and small black albatrosses. Occasionally a large one of ordinary kind seen in museums. Met Professor Brigham, Director of Museum at Honolulu; fine vigorous old man of striking appearance, acquainted with Professor Sargent; was his classmate at Harvard. He also knows Miss Gray don, Professor Brewer etc. January 13. Head wind increasing in force, ship pitching a good deal and fine masses of dusty spray is exploding with a thudding sound on her bows which, driven by wind, keeps the deck wet. Sky is dark, rather gloomy looking out and in. The sick, sicker and many -who held out against the first approaches of the trouble have now abandoned the table. Many, however, deny their sea sickness, saying they are only suffering from slight stomach disorder on account of eating too much, indigestion etc. Why are they ashamed of it? January 14. Dark, cloudy and somewhat rainy. Wind dead ahead and stronger, waves of course, rising, the decks deeply sloppy and gloomy solitude reigns on the grand ship. Tried to call up Mr Dobbie. He came on deck but was soon forced back to bed. About a quarter of the passengers come to table. The wave explosions are fine and make the good ship shudder. Some of the -waves also made up of many smaller ones are interesting. How are these -waves so much larger than the common formed? January ID. Land in sight, many picturesque islands. One like a ship with sails set, a schooner. On the mainland notice a few well-formed glacial wombs of residual small glaciers. Scarce a -white-cap wave now to be seen. All the sick revive and rise to joyful action as if rising from the dead, so also they greet each other and the land in the pleasant enthusiasm of the newness of life. Enjoyed long talks with Mr and Mrs Clementine of Boston. Said they would like to follow me etc. Soon made Courtesy of John Muir Papers, Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library. Copyright 1984 Muir-Hanna Trust many new acquaintances. Arrived about noon and go to the Central Hotel. January 16. Start at 10am for Rotorua; arrive at 6:00pm. and put up at Geyser Hotel, two miles beyond Rotorua, near a large group of hot springs and geysers and an Indian [MaoriJ village [Whakarewarewa]. The Maori, it seems, were not afraid of these noisy, rumbling, thundering or mysteriously sprouting springs, but used them as baths and for cooking etc. Therefore, the sinter formations about them are -worn by long trampling. The bushes, however, are so dense and tall about the smaller less violent springs and just beyond the edges of recent sinter pavements. They form a beautiful and protective border, full of flowers and berries. The railroad [to Rotorua J runs through a level wide valley, fertile and cultivated and many trees planted, oak, elm and pine etc. Just as ascending grade is reached, within 20 or 30 miles of Rotorua, an interesting forest is reached through which the [rail] road runs to within a few miles of the hot spring region. The trees are richly clad and adorned with climbers and epiphytes. January 17. Rose early and collected a lot of specimens, mostly of shrubs, Melaleuca [maybe Kunzea ericoides or Leptospermum scoparium?] and Gaultheria [sppj. Climbed a knob back of Whakarerawha [WhakarewarewaJ and the extensive group of hot springs. On the knob a rich lot of ti bushes [tea tree, Leptospermum scoparium] in flower and fruit, mixed with Gaultheria with white and red berries and other heathnodes [heathworts J. Here and there small trees or high bushes of poisonous plant and one with small red flowers in simple racemes, beautiful prostrate matted plant with white flowers, leaves in four rows making carpet. Charming Ly copodium [spp. L. cernuum on heated soils or fumeroles, L.volubile in scrub margins] lace carpets spreading far and wide. A curious simple heath-like shrub, a few inches high with yellow berries. Common Pteris [pteridophy ta] in glorious abundance. page 8 In the afternoon went up to Summit Ridge grove, a patch of ancient forest. In the ridge patch of old forest saw good specimens of the two grand trees Metrosideros robusta [Northern RataJ and Metrosideros tomentosa [Metrosideros excelsa, PohutukawaJ. [Muir s notes from January 10 in diary included herej Metrosideros robusta L?J said to have fine red blossoms. Magnificent smooth- barked shafts, much buttressed at base and smooth and round from 10 to 12 feet above ground to branches 50 or ID feet above ground. Nearly every tree is decked with a handsome, single glossy-leaved climber like Vaccinium andromedifolia, red flowers in clusters, clings and climbs from rootlets from all a [? J; stem simple, often for 30 flowers or more, rope-like as thick at top as bottom; branches often equal in size and parallel, gray [grey?J color, wood exceedingly tough, though light, and makes fine elastic canes. This fine bright cheery-looking plant often outlives the tree that holds it aloft and never troubles parting with their bark. Large flakes of it are held by the climber and are swayed by the wind. These trees are also enriched by large masses of lily like plants in forks of branches next [toj the trunks, and by orchids and ferns in great numbers, though they are so -well supplied with shining leaves and bright red flowers. January 18. Started in the morning at 9:00 for Hamarana [HamuranaJ Spring across Lake Rotorua did about 9 miles to an old mission station [From Muir s journal, 10 January J. A charming embowered fountain of very cold clear -water flowing from lava rock with great force and abundance, giving rise to a small river which flows into lake after short course of half a mile. Banks embowered with fine weeping willows and several species of common ornamental trees and shrubs and herbs of European gardens, planted by missionaries. Some of the willows three or four feet in diameter. In the afternoon sailed to east side of Lake Rotorua and took a stage for hot mud and water cauldrons and springs at Tikitere. Thence afoot to lovehj and magnificent forest. Metrosideros with glorious bright domed heads of shining foliage, smooth stems with climbing ferns, orchids, lilies etc adorned. Thence to a little lake and back to Rotorua by stage - dusty -10 miles. January 19. Set out south for Waimangu giant geyser (black -water) by stage to Tarawera Lake, through bits of old forest and past two https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmn/1085/thumbnail.jpg |
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