Doc. No. 9.] 23 



opportunities for the examination of the infusorial formations of this 

 State and until access may be had to their descriptions, it will be im- 



gossible to determine this fact. Specimens have been secured for the 

 tate collection, and will be described at the earliest opportunity. 



My route next followed a northeast direction across the Toro Hills 

 and Canada ; the first range of high hills on the north side of the Car- 

 mello, and which divide the Toro from the Carmel valley, have an alti 

 tude of about seven hundred feet ; they are composed of a coarse sand 

 stone, containing a few indistinct impressions of shells of marine species ; 

 an out-crop of trap was observed among the latter rocks, flanked by 

 granite of the same specific character as that found at Point Pinos, and 

 may be seen four miles southwest of the Toro Eanch. On the south 

 side of the valley an extensive bed of calcareous travertine occurs, and 

 also a brecia of the same character, they cover about one mile of area; 

 no limestone rocks were found in situ in. this vicinity ; the travertine 

 here observed, evidently had its origin from springs highly charged with 

 calcareous matter, and which were undoubtedly formed in the limestone 

 described on the east side of the Salinas valley, and which dip under the 

 same as described in the preceding pages. From the intrusion of the 

 more recent volcanic rocks in the immediate vicinity of those springs, it 

 is probable they were diverted into another channel, and thus ceased to 

 flow in places in which the calcareous tula is now found. Similar springs 

 now exist a short distance from Santa Cruz, around which the calcareous 

 deposits are very extensive. 



Crossing the Toro Yalley or Canada, and following the course of the 

 bay of Monterey, there is little else to be seen than the tertiary rocks 

 for fifty miles, and extending easterly in elevated plateaus and hills for 

 eighteen miles from the coast ; among the Chamisal hills frequent intru 

 sions of trapean rocks are met, and in nearly every case where this occurs 

 the granite is also seen broken through by the same igneous intrusions. 

 The sandstone is generally of a buff colour, and yellow-brown, having a 

 greater or less abundance of fossils, in some instances, firm and compact, 

 and again loose and friable ; it is almost continuous in a northwest direc 

 tion, being broken through only by small streams, and is found north 

 of the mission of Santa Cruz, from whence it gradually narrows out, 

 being found immediately on the coast at the base of the mountains. 



Beyond this point the principal rocks on the coast are primitive and 

 volcanic, forming sharp, high hills and low mountains with a bold coast 

 line. 



SANTA CKUZ MOUNTAINS. 



These mountains approach the coast a short distance northwest of the 

 Mission and town of Santa Cruz. They extend from the head of the 

 Santa Clara Yalley and Pajaro river to Mount Bruno and Presidio Point 

 west of the city of San Francisco; they are separated from the moan- 

 tain forming the coast line to the northern terminus of the State, by the 

 Golden Gate or entrance to the bay of San Francisco. The greatest 

 altitude attained in these mountains, is the Black Hill, (Loma Prieto or 



