SOUTHERN CALIFOENIA. 95 



discovered in 1746, by the missionaries; but the Spaniards living there made no mention of 

 any eruption or earthquake caused by it. Native sulphur and pummice abound on the slopes 

 and in the vicinity of this mount. A volcanic axis seems to traverse the peninsula from shore 

 to shore, that is, from the mouth of Mulege Kiver to the Ballena's Bay, -where, besides native 

 sulphur, much vitriol occurs. 



At a place called Kadakaamang, near the Mission of San Ignacio, in latitude 29°, an argil- 

 laceous mount is mentioned near the beach. On its slope, about 200 feet above the level of the 

 Gulf, there is a horizontal stratum of fossil shells two feet thick. 



About seven miles distant from this place a great many fossil oysters are found, some of them 

 being of extraordinary size. One of the missionaries collected some measuring 1 foot 5 inches 

 long, 9 inches broad, and 4 inches thick, and weighing 23 Spanish pounds. It is worthy of 

 notice that here, and in other parts of California, from such fossil shells an excellent lime is 

 prepared. 



Around the Bay of Mulege fossil ostrea are recorded to be quite common, especially on a high 

 mountain in the vicinity of the beach. The rocks here are described as exceedingly hard, and 

 well adapted to building purposes. It abounds in fossil shells, which are found imbedded in the 

 innermost strata. It contains also numerous cavities, which seem to have been once occupied 

 by some marine animals now extinct. This certainly proves a submarine formation of the 

 mountain. 



Kocks of a similar class occur frequently along the whole coast of the Gulf. Seven or eight 

 miles from Loreto, in a locality surrounded by high mountains, is a ridge which is said to 

 consist entirely of layers of fossil shells ; similar localities are known to exist more than twenty 

 miles from the Pacific coast, near the Mission of San Luis, on the north side of the Sebastian 

 Viscaino bay. 



Clavijero thus concludes: "Considering these facts in connexion with the various traces of 

 volcanic activity, and the lar number of islands surrounding the Peninsula, we may 

 imagine what revolutions nature has performed upon this ground. It is, moreover, beyond 

 doubt that the sea has subsided (decrecido) in many places along the coast." 



The missionaries of Loreto observed there, during less than forty years, that the tide marks 

 of the sea had receded many yards from the coast, and also that such receding was more per- 

 ceptible on the west coast. The whole space between the beach and the mountains, a distance 

 of about 26 miles, is deeply overlaid with coast sand (arena litoral.) It is, therefore, evident 

 that the Peninsula in its present configuration has more width now than before our historical 

 era. We may also surely suggest the prpbability of a continued expansion of the land, until 

 that multitude of islands around California shall be connected with each other and be con- 

 solidated finally with the main land. 



VOLCANISM THROUGH THE GULF BASIN. 



North of Carrizo Creek the country between the Gulf Basin and the Pacific exhibits perfect 

 congruity ol petrographic features. There is, for instance, the Pass San Gorgoiio y Bernardino, 

 ln!inc;l by two huge mountain masses, with an elevation of from 7,000 to 8,000 feet each. 

 Here diluvial deposits form a natural bridge of about two miles in width through that mighty 



