The shells are thin and may be crushed between the thumb and finger.

The kernels are white, becoming brown by roasting, and are sweet to every palate, being eaten by birds, squirrels, dogs, horses, and men.

Perhaps less than one bushel in a thousand of the whole crop is ever gathered.

Still, besides supplying their own wants, in times of plenty the Indians bring large quantities to market; then they are eaten around nearly every fireside in the State, and are even fed to horses occasionally instead of barley.
Of other trees growing on the Sierra, but forming a very small part of the general forest, we may briefly notice the following: _Chamoecyparis Lawsoniana_ is a magnificent tree in the coast ranges, but small in the Sierra.

It is found only well to the northward along the banks of cool streams on the upper Sacramento toward Mount Shasta.