180 THE CAMEL. 



slope of the Rocky Mountains. This district 

 embraces nearly the entire valley of the Rio 

 Grande, and extends northwards beyond the 

 northern ^jDoundary of the United States. Its 

 eastern border runs upon the longitude of about 

 96^ W. from the Rio Grande to the parallel of 

 37°, where it inclines to the northeast, and in 

 latitude 44° meets the meridian of 92° W. It 

 now turns to the northwest, and crosses our 

 northern boundary on the meridian of 94° W. ; 

 westwardly, it is bounded by the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. Throughout this vast space, whose area 

 is considerably greater than that of all the Amer- 

 ican States east of the Alleghanies, the total 

 annual precipitation, according to Blodget's 

 Kyetal Charts, nowhere exceeds twenty five 

 inches, and this quantity is confined to its east- 

 ern border, with the exception of a narrow belt 

 between the parallels of 35° and 37°. The cen- 

 tral portion northward of this belt has but fif- 

 teen inches of rain and snow, the residue twenty 

 inches annually. In the lower valley of the Rio 

 Grande, the precipitation is twenty inches, more 

 to the northwest from ten to fifteen only. 



II. The Great Basin of the Interior. The 

 southern division of this basin Hes between the 

 parallels of 30° and 40° N. and the meridians of 

 110° and 120° W. In a small part of the east- 

 ern portion of this division, the rain and snow 



