230 Audubofi's Western Journal 



only about ten miles, but walked nearly twenty of 

 hard travel. 



April 24th. As the traveller leaves the north 

 side of the Calaveras and rises higher, the ground 

 becomes cold and has a bluish-looking clay for the 

 road, almost as hard as soft brick, and more 

 tenacious; there are streaks of sandy soil, and in a 

 few places good land; this is scarce however, 

 between the Calaveras and Mokulumne where the 

 Sacramento road crosses the plain. The last three 

 miles of the road is through a pleasant, half- 

 wooded country of live-oak and a few varieties 

 of other shrubs, for the whole of the wood is 

 small. 



The sandy road was a great relief to us after 

 the lumpy one of the morning, and we tramped 

 merrily on, until we reached the Mokulumne, and 

 saw a comfortable (for this country) , log and jacal 

 built house, and passing about two hundred yards 

 further on, spread our blankets under some half 

 dozen magnificent oaks, and after washing away 

 the dust and heat in the clear, cold little river, very 

 rapid but smooth, ate our lunch of fried pork and 

 bread, and stretched ourselves out to rest for an 

 hour, when we packed up, and being ferried across 

 in a pretty good flat-boat, the only one between 

 Stockton and Sacramento, we continued our walk 

 to Dry Creek over just the same description of 

 country we had had in the morning; but it became 



