CH OROGRAPHY. 17 



is the Mojave, which rises on the northern slope of Mount San 

 Bernardino, and, after running about one hundred miles in a 

 northeastward direction, sinks in the sand. The Mojave re- 

 ceives no tributaries after it leaves the side of Mount San Ber- 

 nardino. After sinking, it rises again ; or rather pools of water 

 are found in the low places of its bed, the water evidently 

 soaking through the sand and following the bed of the stream. 

 The next stream in importance is Owen's River, which runs 

 southward seventy-five miles along the foot of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada, and terminates in Owen Lake, which lies in latitude 36° 

 25', and is fifteen miles long by nine wide. Northward, one 

 hundred miles from Owen Lake, is Mono Lake, eight miles 

 long and six wide, sometimes called " the Dead Sea of Califor- 

 nia." No fish can live in the water, which is so heavy with 

 saline substances, that the human body floats in it very lightly ; 

 though it is so strongly alkaline, that it scalds the skin. In 

 the midst of the lake is an island, several miles long. While 

 the greater part of the Utah Basin is high above the level of 

 the sea, there is a portion of it, called " Death Valley," three 

 hundred and seventy-seven feet below the sea-level; and, not- 

 withstanding its great depth, it is one of the driest and most 

 desolate parts of that basin of deserts. 



§ 18. Colorado Desert. — A district, about seventy miles 

 wide by one hundred and forty long, on the southeastern bor- 

 der of the state, belongs to the basin of the Colorado River. 

 It is usually called the " Colorado Desert," because of its bar- 

 ren, sandy soil, and scanty vegetation. In some places the 

 soil is composed of sand, packed together firmly, with a hard 

 and smooth surface, which reflects light like a mirror ; in other 

 places are mountains of loose sand, which are continually shift- 

 ing. In latitude 33° 20', and longitude 115° 50', is a district, 

 thirty miles square or more, which is seventy feet below the 

 level of the sea. It is supposed that at one time the Gulf of 

 California extended several hundred miles farther north than 

 it now does ; and that the Colorado River, in long ages, depos- 

 ited so much alluvium as to make banks down to the present 



