104 GEOLOGICAL EESUME OF MOJAVE VALLEY. 



account of its greater elevation above the desert to the south, and the number of ridges which 

 rise 1,000 and 1,500 feet above the valley at their base, the fall of rain must be greater than in 

 the latter place ; but this mountainous belt of country must still be looked upon as, to a great 

 extent, a desert region. It is only where water is abundant that vegetation luxuriates, and 

 hence, where the river bottom is left, sterility commences. Along the immediate bed of the 

 Mojave, from the foot of the Cajon pass to where it sinks in Soda lake, cotton-woods, willows, 

 and mesquite, are abundant ; they are the only trees, except those upon the San Bernardino 

 slope. There is no tree growth upon the sides of these short ranges, and grass is only found on 

 their slopes in the immediate vicinity of springs, or upon those level terraces for a few weeks 

 after the fall of rain in spring. Then a sweet though scanty herbage rises in April and May, 

 which is all burnt up and withered in June for want of moisture ; a second vegetation springs 

 up in the fall, which is of an inferior character. The scarcity of water and the general dryness of 

 the district is testified by the dead carcases lying beside the Salt Lake trail ; the cattle having 

 foundered from fatigue and thirst, and their hides preserved from decay by the aridity of the 

 climate ; the dropped saddles, harness, and wagons attest the same, and give to this trail, as 

 well as that across the Colorado desert, the character of a Grolgotha ; the whole district pro- 

 ducing in the dry valleys only larrea, artemisia, fouquieria, yucca, and cactuses. 



Such is the country through which the Mojave flows, and into the soit sands of one of which 

 valleys it ultimately empties itself. In its course it crosses some of those ranges through wild 

 caiions, and rounds others to avoid them. Its course being distinctly visible by the bright 

 green of the foliage of the cotton-woods, so remarkable from the upland generally : over these 

 plains above the river, in spring, was scattered a profusion of vernal flowers, composite plants, 

 many of them in full bloom, and resembling those of the Los Angeles and San Bernardino 

 valleys, but of a more diminutive form. Upon no part of the Mojave river were there any 

 traces of cultivation, although where it enters the valleys between ranges and widens its bed it 

 is capable of producing fine growths; and as it occasionally rises and falls in its bed, dependent 

 upon rains or snow-meltings on the San Bernardino mountains, irrigation might be adopted 

 with success. The Indians who travel along these trails and live in the mountains, 60 miles 

 down the Mojave, are the Cucoomphers, not speaking the same tongue as the Mojaves or 

 Pay-utes, nor apparently so advanced in civilization — lizards, rabbits, and roots, constituting 

 their chief fare. 



The winds blow with great violence along these plains and smooth slopes of the mountains, 

 drifting the sands and accumulating it in small hillocks at the base of the hills. In summer 

 the thunder and lightning storms are frequent and severe, although but little rain falls with 

 these phenomena. At night time the air cools down so as to feel chilly before sunrise, and 

 even deposits a dew upon the blanket and hair of the exposed sleeper. This radiation and 

 production of dew is, no doubt, beneficial to vegetation, and enables animal and plant to sup- 

 port for a longer time, without injury, the high temperature of the midday. 



Of the parallelism of the geological forces exerted over this district, there is an evidence in the 

 existence of an extensive plain which is crossed by the Mojave, about 62 miles below the first 

 crossing — the eastern boundary of this plain is a chain of granitic and porphyry hills, alluded 

 to in Chapter XIX, which runs S. 60° E. to the Colorado river. In this direction the plain 

 extends, crosses the river, and continues the same southeastly direction until the Gila is reached, 

 a little west of the Coco-maricopas villages. 



Upon the portion of the plain near the Colorado the Chemi-huevas have their cultivated 



