24 BULLETIN 56, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



read in order to appreciate the physiographic features of the region. 

 Chapter VII, pages 179 to 199 of the same report, containing Lieut. 

 Col. J. W. Barlow's account of the Construction and Erection of New 

 Monuments, also gives much information of value to the biologist 

 respecting the physical aspect and topographic features of the Bound- 

 ary Line, which are further illustrated by the 300 full-page quarto 

 half-tone engravings of photographs taken along the line." 



Lieutenant Gaillard observes : Any general description of the country adja- 

 cent to the International Boundary Line between the Rio Grande and the Pacific 

 must of necessity give an incomplete idea of its appearance to one unfamiliar 

 with the arid regions and the peculiar character of its fauna and flora, for 

 probably in no section of the United States of equal extent is the rainfall so 

 small and the summer heat so intense. The average precipitation along the 

 entire boundary is but about 8 inches, and on the Yuma and Colorado deserts 

 but 2 or, 3 inches, a deficiency which will be made more significant to the ordi- 

 nary reader when it is stated that the Boundary Line, although having a total 

 length of about 700 miles, crosses but five permanent running streams between 

 the Rio Grande and the Pacific, and this, too, although crossing most valleys 

 and mountain ranges nearly at right angles, the direction most favorable for 

 encountering all existing streams. 



From the summer of 1890 to that of 1893 the entire country between the Rio 

 Grande and the Colorado suffered from a drought of unprecedented duration 



printed on heavy paper, containing 300 plates (2.59 of new or recently 

 repaired monuments and 41 views of scenei'y and old monuments as found by 

 the present commission), and lacking the first title page, w^as issued in advance 

 of the regular publication, the 42 additional plates of this edition being scat- 

 tered through the text of the report in the final edition. 



(3) Folio atlas of maps and profiles, 2U by 28J inches. Title page: Bound- 

 ary between the United States and Mexico, as surveyed and marked by the In- 

 ternational Boundary Commission, under the convention of July 29, 1882. Re- 

 vised February 18, 1889. List of maps and profiles : A and B, index map of the 

 Boundary ; 1, 2, 3, and 4, California line ; 5, Colorado River section of the Bound- 

 ary (in colors); 0, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, Arizona-Sonora oblique line; 12, 13, 14, 

 15, and IG, parallel 31° 20' north latitude; in and 17. meridian section; 17, 18, 

 and 19, parallel 31° 47' north latitude ; 20, 21, 22. 2.3, and 24. profile of the Bound- 

 ary. A and B show the prominent peaks, roads, and springs in the vicinity of 

 the Boundary Line, whose positions and heights were determined by the United 

 States section of the Commission. The railroads, roads, and trails and the loca- 

 tion of settlements, rivers, etc., at a distance from the Boundary were compiled 

 from county maps. General Land Office maps, United States engineer maps, 

 etc. ; Pacific coast line and San Diego Bay, from U. S. Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey charts ; coast of Lower California and Gulf of California, from U. S. 

 Hydrographic Oflice charts. 



oAlso see The Perils and Wonders of a True Desert, by Capt. D. D. Gaillard, 

 U. S. Army, in The Cosmopolitan. October. 1896, pp. .592-60.5, with 18 illustra- 

 tions in the text; Seriland, By W J McGee and Willard D. Johnson, in The 

 National Geographic Magazine, VII, April, 1896, pp. 125-133, pis. xiv. xv; 

 The Old Yuma Trail, by W J McGee, in The National Geographic Magazine, 

 XII, March, 1901, pp. 103-107 ; April, 1891, pp. 129-143, with map and numerous 

 text figures. 



