413 COSMOS. 



miles distant from the shore of the South Sea, the Sierra 

 Nevada (de Alta California) from 36 to 40f ; then again, 

 commencing from the lofty Shasty Mountains in the parallel 

 of Trinidad Bay (lat. 41 10'), the Cascade range, which 

 contains the highest still ignited peak, and which, at a 

 distance of 104 miles from the coast, extends from south to 

 north far beyond the parallel of the Fuca Strait. Similar in 

 their course to this latter chain (lat. 43 46), but 280 

 miles distant from the shore, are the Blue Mountains, 24 which 

 rise in their centre to a height of from 7000 to 8000 feet. 

 In the central portion of Old California, a little farther to 

 the north, near the eastern coast or bay in the neighbour- 

 hood of the former Mission of San Ignacio, in about 28 

 north latitude, stands the extinct volcano, known as the 

 " Volcanes de las Virgenes," which I have given on my chart 

 of Mexico. This volcano had its last eruption in 1746; but 

 we possess no reliable information either regarding it or any 

 of the surrounding districts ; (See Venegas, Noticia de la 

 California, 1757, t. i, p. 27 ; and Duflot de Moras, Exploration 

 de I' Oregon et de la Calif ornie, 1844, t. i, pp. 218 and 239). 

 Ancient volcanic rock has already been found in the coast- 

 range near the harbour of San Francisco, in the Monte del 

 Diablo, which Dr. Trask investigated (3673 feet), and in the 

 auriferous elongated valley of the Rio del Sacramento in a 

 trachytic crater now fallen in, called the Sacramento Butt, 

 which Dana has delineated. Farther to the north, the ' 

 Shasty, or Tshashtl Mountains, contain basaltic lavas, obsi- 

 dian, of which the natives make arrow-heads, and the talc- 

 like serpentine which makes its appearance on many points 

 of the earth's surface, and appears to be closely allied to the 

 volcanic formations. But the true seat of the still existing 

 igneous action is the Cascade Mountain range, in which, 

 covered with eternal snow, several of the peaks rise to the 

 height of 16,000 feet. I shall here give a list of these, pro- 

 ceeding from south to north. The now ignited, and more or 

 less active volcanoes, will be (on the plan heretofore adopted) 



- 4 Dana, p. 616620 ; Blue Mountains, p. 649651 ; Sacramento 

 Butt, p. 630643; Shasty Mountains, p. 614; Cascade range. On the 

 Monte Diablo range, perforated by volcanic rock, see also John Trask, 

 on the Geology of the Coast Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, 1854, 

 pp. 1318. 



