KDGK OF THE COLORADO DF.SERT 209 



Colorado Desert, the scanty rainfall of only two or three 

 inches a year, the intense heat, and low percentage of atmos- 

 pheric humidity ha\e so intensified desert conditions that 

 the vegetation is meagre in the extreme, and w^ide areas 

 previous to their overflow by the Salton Sea were either com- 

 pletely bare, or produced only here and there a solitary salt 

 hush or some other extreme type of xerophytes. Toward 

 its outer limits, however, the vegetation is more abundant 

 and \aried. 



This division of the desert is sharply bounded on the 

 west by San Jacinto Mountain, which rises to an altitude of 

 10,805 ft., and the broken ranges and peaks which, farther 

 to the southward, include the Cuyamaca Mountains, barely 

 attaining a height of 6,500 ft., and some lesser elevations. 

 The abruptness of the change from the scanty vegetation of 

 the desert to mountain chaparral and forest can hardly be 

 realized except by actually going over the ground, and there 

 are perhaps few places where the transition from one to the 

 other can be more satisfactorily studied. 



J he approach is best made from the west. A convenient 

 starting-point may be made at the small mining town of 

 Julian, at an elevation of slightly upwards of four thousand 

 feet above sea \eye]. On a fa>'orable day, standing on a 

 ridge above the town, one can see, fifty miles away to the 

 west, the Pacific ocean and, nearer on the east, the Salton 

 sea, often beautifully clear, and, with the dim outlines of 

 the mountains beyond, presenting a picture not soon for- 

 gotten. At closer range, for a few miles to the westward, the 

 eye takes in a region of rugged physical features, an Irregular 

 congeries of ridges and peaks, with picturesque canyons be- 

 tween, characterized, first of all, by the presence of numerous 

 live oaks {Oiicrciis ii^^rifOria) , by wide stretches of grass 

 land, now covered chiefly by wild oats {Avoia fatiia), and 

 lastly by a chaparral which co\ers the rocky hillsides with a 

 thick growth of Ade)i()st()}}ici, Cccinothiis, Cercocarpiis, scrub 

 oak and manzanita, with other less characteristic shrubs. 



