38 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



§ 28. Dryness of Climate. — The small amount of rain dur- 

 ing the winter, the entire want of it during the summer, the 

 warmth of the sun, and the great number of cloudless days, 

 render the climate a very dry one. As one conseqence or ac- 

 companiment of our dry climate and clear sky, it may be worth 

 while to observe that near the ocean the clouds are rarely pic- 

 turesque or sublimely beautiful. The magnificent sunsets, 

 where the god of light goes down amid curtains of gold and 

 crimson— those high-piled banks of clouds which adorn the 

 heavens before and after thunder-showers, in the Mississippi 

 valley — are never seen near the coast. 



Dew is very rare or slight over a great part of the state. 

 During the summer and autumn, many of the rivers sink in 

 the sand soon after leaving the mountains in which they rise ; 

 the earth is dry and baked hard to a depth of many inches or 

 even feet ; the grass and herbage, except near springs, or on 

 swampy land, are dried up, and as brown as the soil on which 

 they grew. 



It has been said that very hot days are less oppressive in 

 Califoi-nia than equal heat in the Eastern states, because the 

 cool nights serve to invigorate the system, and the extreme 

 dryness of the climate favors the evaporation of sweat, and 

 thus keeps the body cooler than in districts where the earth is 

 ahvays moist. Evaporation is so rapid, that a beefsteak hung 

 up in the air vrill dry before it can commence to putrefy. A 

 dead rat thrown into the street, where its body is crushed by 

 wagon-wheels so that its viscera are exposed to the air, Avill 

 "dry up," and its stiff hide and meat will lie during a whole 

 summer in a mummy-like condition. In many places, steel 

 may be exposed to the night air for weeks without getting a 

 touch of rust. 



It is common to ascribe the effects of the dryness of the 

 atmosphere to the "purity" of the air; but it is rather the 

 absence of moisture. I know no reason for supposing that, 

 apart from its dryness, the air in California is purer than in 

 any other pai't of the continent. It may be, however, that tl^e 



