180 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



clothing which had long lain in the gloomy recesses of carpet- 

 bags in anticipation of the time when, to deck the persons of 

 its owners, it was to be called forth before reaching the settle- 

 ments. These operations, which somewhat modified the 

 general piratical appearance of our company, occupied our 

 time until near midnight. When I at last sought my hard 

 couch by the side of a faintly glimmering campfire, it was 

 not to sleep, for the various emotions which thronged through 

 my mind at the thoughts of the new scenes among which I 

 was to act my part in life's great drama, alone and friendless, 

 together with the wild scenery around us and the deep silence 

 of the night, broken occasionally by the loud cries and furious 

 tread of the horses and mules as they dashed to and fro along 

 the gloomy pass, drove sleep from me, much as I courted its 

 presence. 



The morning of the 18th saw us on our road early. The 

 trail leading along the bottom of the rugged pass was an 

 exceedingly rough one, l3^ing over beds of rock and stone, 

 and sometimes in the channel of the stream which it often 

 crossed. The cafion at length opened into a valley a mile in 

 width, which was thickly sown with thorny plants, among 

 which the prickly pear, a branch of the cactus family, held 

 a prominent place. This plant here grew to the height of 

 two feet, with oval-shaped leaves an inch in thicknees and 

 thickly covered with sharp thorns. It bears a bell-shaped 

 fruit, encased in a purple bulb, which, when ripe, is very 

 agreeable to the taste, although its surroundings are so full of 

 minute, barbed thorns, which penetrate the lips, tongue and 

 hands of the eater, that there is far more pain than pleasure 

 in eating them. Winding through a thorny chaparral and 

 over beds of yielding sand, we continued down the widening 

 pass, which at length opened into the valley of San Bernar- 

 dino. Descending a gradually sloping bluff, with our teams 

 at full speed, we reached the level plain stretching beyond ; 

 and passing by the side of fields now green with the starting 



