600 Transactions of the American Institute. 



in motion at something more than six miles an hour. In a few min- 

 utes we rattled over a wooden bridge thrown across the Truckee, and 

 for a little while the side lamps threw their light on fences along either 

 side the road, sure indexes. of tilled fields made green and fruitful by 

 the irrigating waters of the little river. Soon, however, the fences 

 disappeared, and we saw nothing but the clusters of sage brush, the 

 powerful, half-aromatic, and not unpleasant odor of which filled the 

 air. The sage brush is the only vegetation found in this region, 

 except where, in a very few places, and these of small area, some 

 oozing spring or small stream moistens the loose, dry soil. This curi- 

 ous plant, when young, presents a rather pretty appearance, growing 

 in bunches about fifteen inches high, and from ten to eighteen across. 

 It has a gi'ay or silvery color ; something like that of garden sage, 

 which has undoubtedly led to its name of sage brush. Its taste is 

 intensely bitter, and it probably contains a strong and peculiarly 

 essential principle, the virtue of which is shown in the only known 

 use of the plant, a specific for, I believe, the ague. When urged by 

 hunger, however, cattle will eat it, and its bitter herbage has more 

 than once saved emigrant trains that otherwise would have perished 

 in the desert. 



The stages have a down-hill road for about one-half the distance, 

 and on reaching 'the " foot of the grade," as it is termed, they stop to 

 change horses. The scene at this point was picturesque and peculiar 

 to the country. Many teams were picketed before heaps of forage 

 placed upon the ground 1 the craunching of the animals' jaws being dis- 

 tinctly heard even at some little distance in the still night air. The 

 drivers and hostlers of the previous relay were lying wrapped in 

 blankets and sleeping calmly under the starlit sky. We moved but 

 slowly the remainder of the distance, so that the gray dawn found us 

 still three or four miles from our destination. Here we saw, more 

 plainly than in the night, the region through which we passed ; often 

 deep, naked gorges at one side of the road, while on the other the 

 steep, sage-dotted slopes of the mountains rose hundreds of feet above. 

 At last, after descending a short reach of down grade, we came into 

 Virginia City, and alighted at the only hotel in the place. Finding 

 that a room could not be obtained until one was vacated by the occu- 

 pant of the night just ended, which was not likely to occur in less 

 than an hour and a half, I started on a preliminary stroll about the 

 village. 



Virginia City is situate at the lower part of the eastern side of a 

 high hill, or rather mountain, of rounded contour, and with a steep 



