296 GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1868. 



many respects a very desirable country. Phys- 

 ically, it is divided into three regions, or per- 

 haps we might as properly say four. From 

 Cape San Lucas at its southern extremity, due 

 north to Cape La Paz, latitude 24 20', a dis- 

 tance of about 100 miles, the mountain-chain 

 known as the Sierra de San Lazaro, having an 

 average height of about 6,000 feet, a bare 

 granite mass, forms a kind of backbone of the 

 lower portion of the peninsula, and the land 

 slopes from this eastward and westward to 

 the Californian Gulf and the ocean, terminat- 

 ing, however, at either extremity in a rocky, 

 bold promontory. Separated from this chain 

 by La Paz Bay, but commencing about the 

 24th parallel, and adhering closely to the gulf 

 shore, the Sierra de la Gigantea, a chain hav- 

 ing an average height of from 3,000 to 4,000 

 feet, but rising in occasional peaks to more 

 than twice that height, extends, in a direction 

 nearly due northwest, to about latitude 30 35', 

 a distance of full five hundred miles. On the 

 gulf side this chain rises up as an almost per- 

 pendicular wall to its full height, giving the 

 impression, which is probably the correct one, 

 that, by some convulsion of nature, the moun- 

 tain-chain was cleft from summit to base, and 

 one half sank below the waters and now forms 

 the bed of the Gulf of California. On the west 

 side the Sierra de la Gigantea declines gradually 

 in gentle slopes or plateaus with occasional 

 broken tracts toward the Pacific. Between the 

 26th and 27th parallels the land on the Pacific 

 shore is low, and there are extensive lagoons. 

 Between 26 40' and 27 50' the peninsula 

 suddenly extends westward, having a mean 

 breadth of about 135 miles, and a range of 

 coast hills of considerable altitude extends from 

 northwest to southeast near the Pacific coast. 

 About latitude 29 the Coast Range, which ex- 

 tends through the whole of Upper California, 

 commences, and from latitude 30 40' the east- 

 ern side of the peninsula, for a breadth of nearly 

 30 miles from this Coast Range to the head of 

 the gulf and the Colorado River, is nearly level 

 and low. There are a number of volcanoes on 

 the peninsula, and the soil and mountain-si opes 

 give evidence of the frequency and extent of 

 volcanic eruptions. The climate, though in- 

 clined to be dry, is delightful, especially on the 

 plateaus. It is the finest country in the world 

 for the culture of the grape, and there are nu- 

 merous mountain-streams which can be utilized 

 for the purpose of irrigation. There are mines 

 of copper, silver, and gold, and there are indi- 

 cations of the existence of the ores of quicksil- 

 ver. Tropical fruits are produced in great per- 

 fection. 



The Colorado River, which discharges its 

 waters into the Gulf of California about the 

 parallel of 31 30' N. latitude, is one of the 

 most remarkable streams on the North Ameri- 

 can Continent. Its northernmost source (the 

 Green River) rises near Fremont's Peak in the 

 Wind River Mountains in Idaho, in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the sources of the Lewis's Fork 



of the Columbia River and the Wind River, an 

 affluent of the Yellowstone and the Missouri ; 

 while others of its tributaries have their source 

 in the Rocky Mountains in the centre of Col- 

 orado Territory. The general course of its 

 several tributaries, as well as that of the main 

 river, is southwest, until it reaches Callville, a 

 small settlement in the southeast of Utah, 

 whence it flows almost due south to the Gulf 

 of California. It is navigable for steamers to 

 Callville, about 400 miles above the gulf, 

 though for much of this part of its course it 

 passes between perpendicular walls of rock 

 from 4,000 to 5,000 feet high. Above Call- 

 ville both the main river and its affluents, the 

 Grand, Green, San Juan, and Little Colorado, 

 flow through ever-deepening cafions, the walls 

 of which at some points are nearly 7,000 feet 

 above the ; -bed of the river, and the streams 

 which enter these from either side also flow 

 through deep cafions, and there are several 

 cataracts of great height. The plateaus through 

 which these rivers pass are divided by them, 

 and there is no way of bridging the broad riv- 

 ers which flow so far below the surface of the 

 plateaus. From the surface of these broad and 

 generally treeless plains, other terraces, with 

 nearly perpendicular walls 1,000 feet or more 

 in height, rise, resembling in the distance gi- 

 gantic walled towns and fortresses. Over both 

 the loftier and lower plateaus there are mas- 

 sive ruins of once populous walled towns and 

 cities, where it is supposed the predecessors of 

 the Aztecs (the Toltec race) lived and ruled 

 more than a thousand years since. Even now 

 there are on the loftiest of these plains several 

 villages of this intelligent and remarkable race. 

 Some of these were visited by Professor New- 

 berry in 1860, who found them an agricultural 

 people, skilled in many domestic manufactures, 

 fire-worshippers, and wholly diverse in ap- 

 pearance, manners, customs, religion, and civili- 

 zation, both from the Indian tribes around 

 them (the Apaches and Camanches), and the 

 Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. 



Signor Dollfus, an Italian geographer, has 

 recently published his determinations of the 

 elevation of numerous points in Mexico made 

 under very favorable circumstances in 1865. 

 On the vexed question of the height of Popo- 

 catepetl, his measurement, taken with great 

 care, gives 5,410.8 metres, equal to 17,720 feet, 

 which is 128 feet less that that of Von Girolt, 

 but is probably much nearer the truth. 



In Petermann's MittJieilungen for March, 

 1868, Dr. Gustav Bernouilli gives a full ac-. 

 count of the physical geography of the State 

 of Guatemala, as well as of its productions, 

 etc., the result of many years' residence there. 

 He states that, contrary to the usual law of the 

 Andean or Rocky Mountain chain, the central 

 Cordilleras, which rise only to an average height 

 of about 3,700 feet, are not the highest moun- 

 tains of Guatemala, that honor belonging to 

 the volcanic chain, which has an average ele- 

 vation of over 9,500 feet. The volcano of 



