1841] GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION. 441 



the convention, is the 120th meridian, east longitude ; but the 

 other boundaries were left unchanged. The surface of the 

 country near the ocean is much diversified, in some places 

 rising in lofty ranges of hills, covered with patches of wild 

 flowers, and grass, and low shrubs, and at others spreading 

 out into broad plains, intersected witli valleys, which are 

 usually rich and fertile, though requiring in the dry season 

 considerable irrigation to render them highly productive. 

 North of the bay of San Francisco, the coast country is 

 still more broken than at the south, but it is well adapted for 

 the culture of grain and the rearing of cattle. From forty 

 to fifty miles inland is the Coast Range, which is the first 

 ridge of mountains, and the continuation of the central 

 chain of Lower California. This ridge divides into several 

 ranges as it trends to the north, and is finally lost in the 

 Klamet range on the southern borders of Oregon. 



Between the Coast Range and the Sierra Nevada, which 

 runs nearly along the 120th meridian, the country consists 

 of extensive plains and swelling hills, either well-wooded, or 

 thickly carpeted with wild oats, whose yellow waves sweep 

 far up the sides of the Snowy Mountains. In the midst of 

 this section, near the lower end of California, are the Tule 

 lakes, which connect with the San Joaquin in the rainy 

 season. That river has a northerly course of from one hun- 

 dred and fifty to two hundred miles, and unites with the 

 Sacramento in Suisun Bay. The Sacramento comes from 

 the north, and has a course of not far from two hun- 

 dred miles in extent. Both these streams have a number 

 of affluents which bring down the melted snows of the 

 Sierra Nevada, and the heavy rains that fall during the 

 winter months. The banks of the two larger rivers are 

 low, and for miles above and below the head of Suisun Bay, 

 there are extensive marshes or tulares, covered with a species 

 of bulrush, called tule, which are overflowed in high water, 

 and are finely situated for raiding rice. 



Besides the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, and the 



Rio Colorado of the west, which forms a part of its eastern 



19* 



