mHABITANTS. 237 



area clothed with thin coarse grass ; an opening vaUm next greets the er* 

 in the generous growth of its herbage and the fertility of its soil ; a beaati- 

 fuJ grove of stately pmes, cedara, and pinions, rises in the back ground ; t 

 still larger, more expansive, and thrice lovely valley, skirts the banks of 

 some bounding stream, and delights the fancy witli its smiling flowers and 

 luxuriant verdure. 



Here, a huge mountain rears itself in majesty-now, piling heaps upon heapa 

 of naked granite, hraestone, sandstone, and basalt, variegated and parti-col- 

 ored,_now, thickly studded with lateral pmes, cedars, pinions, and hem- 

 locks.—then, again denuded, tiU at last its sharpened peaks pierce the clouds 

 while storms and tempests in then- wild orgies haste to do it reverence, 

 liiere, a lesser, coniform elevation of Uie continuous chain, is mantled in 

 Imng^een; while perhaps by its side, another pains the eye with the 

 well defined hneaments of desolation. 



A country of this description occupies nearly the whole interval fiom 

 the two main branches of the Colorado to the dividing ridge of mountains. 



I he valleys of the Uintah, and several other affluents within its limits, 

 however, are broad, fertile and tolerably weU timbered. Grass continues 

 green nearly the entire winter, and game of all kinds common to the moon- 

 tarns, exceptmff bu^o, is abundant. The valley soUs are well adapted to 



w ' '"'^^^ sustain a large population. 

 „Jl%y°T- "^^i ^° the soutlieastem extremity of the province, borderinif 

 mwn the Rio Gila which separates it from Sonera, and lying between the 

 Colorado and the Sierra de los JMimbroa range. ^ ■'^ ""' 



»o J V^'^'f^'-^-""^^ ^T ^^"^'^^ *« * g«"«^l thing, partakes of machthe 

 same characteristics as tliat upon the opposite eile of tiie Colorado, and 



«K ? f° ^'^^"' '^"^n?/ ^^ ^'SS^' <^"«^' ^^"cb was so fully described 

 upon a former page. The soil, however, is not generally so sandy, and the 

 ^ndscape is far more rough and broken. The bottoms of tlie ColJrado and 

 Lrila, mth their tributaries, are broad, rich, and well timbered. Everytiiini? 

 in the shape of vegetation attains a lusty size, amply evincmg the eiuba^ 

 ent fecundity of the soil producing it ' *" ' "^"^ "* "■'•"wr- 



aJ}^^ *Jv ™^y ^*;^* ^P^^ *° ^® vicinity of both these streams, weU 

 ^serving the name of eart&y Edens. Man Lre might fere sumptuously. 

 A« J^K continued feast spread before him by the spoHtaneous products rf 

 the ^, and revel in perennial sprmgor luxurate amid unfediL summer. 

 Ye^ notwithstanding the other atti^ctions held out, game is much leai 

 ?lS2L "" " °'^'' parts,_probably owing toSe wanSh of S 



nf S*^' ^ unknown, and the only thing that marks ita presence from that 

 of odiw seasons, » a continuation of rainy and damp we^tiier for some two 



-lI?Ho?.T/K*'^fr ?''''''''" ""^ ^pper California possesses a onifonnly 



JRie natives, for the most part, may be considered friendly, or at kut 

 not dai^erou*. Some of them, in the neighborhood of the^Gila andtB 

 Gtdf of Califomia are partiaUy advanced iS civihzation, and c«Jtlvat» S 

 I»»d, jwaing corn, meW, pumpkina, l»ani, potatoes, dt^ «»«•«" 



