306 Beyond the Sierniti. 



to the i'iiciiic. lijlli lie antl his friend on the opposite sule of the valley are 

 covered on their upper sides and crests with ccilars and epruce. So clear is 

 the air that the traveler in the valley between them sees everything on the 

 slopes and up to the crest with the distinctness given by a spy-glass. The 

 whole surface iA these mountains shines, almost glitters, in the br.lliant light. 



After you enter the S.in .Foaquin valley the best mountain of the Sierras 

 isMt. Wiiitney. He is clearly visible from Tulare, standing nearly east of that 

 part of the valey, at a distance of about seventy-five miles. Further to the 

 nortli, as you journey toward San Francisco, are seen the fine heads of Mt. 

 GoJdard, Mt. Ritt-r-r, Ml Dun and C istle Peak: but these lie so far back 

 from the line of the S.in Jo.iquin river as to be less conspicuous than Whit- 

 ney. The glory of the Sacramento valley at its northern limit is Shastji and 

 the Lassen Buttes, both plainly visible from Redding. Tiie highest and best 

 mountain of the Coast Rmge is Ml H imilton, overlooking the valley of S.inta 

 Clara. A glance at the map will show the reader th it the latter named 

 ■chain of mountains is really a prolongation of the Mexican Sierra Madre,»^.\- 

 tending at a coast ward angle from F.»rt Yuma to S ui Francisco. 



References ha^^e novv been mide L) the general chiracter of the C ili- 

 fornia valleys, to the ranges of highlands that girdle them in, and, in many 

 preceding paragraphs, to the Iu;ninous air which bathes all the landscapes 

 west of the Rocky Mou \tains. Bui I h we not, thus far, enlarged to any ex- 

 tent upon the peculiarities and special merits of the "glorious climate of 

 California." Climate, I supp«?, miyb3 called the general result and co- 

 ordination of the forces of nature as it respects the atmospheric conditions 

 of a given country. Tnis will embrace, of course, the special considerations 

 of temperature— as to hot and cold; of barometrical pressure — as to heavy 

 and light; of humidity — as to moist and dry; of air currents— as to wind and 

 calm; an I of th3 min )r details of diw fall and frost and the rate of vicissi- 

 tude by which one condition is changed into another. First, then, as to tem- 

 perature: 



California has a mild and eq lable r.uige, especially along the coast. 

 In some favored situ itions the variation of the therm mieter is only a few 

 degrees during tiie whole year. In the valleys east of the Coast Range the 

 climate is also mild but here the temperature rises to a great height in 

 summer. On the Sm Joaquin and Sicramento plains the degree of 110 

 F.direnheit is comm )n in th? hotter m )nlh-i. Twocirctrnst.uices, however, 

 greatly modify this extreme heat in its etl'jcts on animal life. The air is so 

 dry and light, and evaporation so rapid, that the human frame suHera 

 but little from the extreme heat. It is the unanimous testimony of the 

 people of these districts tint they do not sutler greatly even from theexpess- 

 ive temper.Uure just named. Statistics attest this assertion, for sun-strokes 

 and prostrations are more infrequent in these valleys than in many parts of 

 the country where the upward r.uige of the temperature is less by 20°. 



As a general fact, there is neither freezing nor frost in any of those dis- 

 tricts visited in our journeys of mi)re than seven hundred mile^ from north 



