

Notes 071 Upper California. 249 



the ground sounded hollow under the horses' fcoofs. Till noon, 

 the soil was dry and pebbly, and mostly of sandstone origin. 

 About midday we passed another saline with Salsolas, lying about 

 fifteen feet lower than the usual level of the plain. The western 

 hills afterwards became more bold in their features, and the rocks 

 stood out in black points over much of their surface. The foot 

 of one of the ridges, where crossed, proved to consist of a dark 

 green serpentine ; and pebbles of the same rock, bleached exter- 

 nally from exposure, were abundant. The rock contained ami- 

 anthus and green diallage, its characteristic minerals. Half a 

 mile beyond, near our encampment, the rock was a beautiful 

 syenitic granite, or syenite, containing large crystals of horn- 

 blende, some of them two inches long. The ridges to the west- 

 ward rose to a height of 1500 or 1800 feet. 



The smoky haze which had concealed the Shasty Peak during 

 our journey across the prairie, still continued, and although with- 

 in twenty miles of its base, we could barely discern as if in dis- 

 tant space far above us, faint traces of its snowy summit in a 

 few dim lines and shades. 



October 3. — On the morning of the 3d the Peak was visible until 

 half an hour before sunrise, when a thin haze again veiled it from 

 view. Following up the small stream on which we had pitched 

 our tents the night before, we soon reached its head and struck 

 into the forests of the mountains. The high syenitic ridge had 

 continued to bound our view to the westward, and a very uneven 

 hilly region lay to the eastward; some hills of lava were passed 

 within fifty yards of the syenite. The plains left behind had 

 been partly covered with pines and were highly fertile. The 

 mountains before us were a mass of lofty ridges ranging from 

 east to west and situated to the west of the Shasty Peak. They 

 form a natural boundary across the country, dividing the Clam- 

 j«at region from the district of the Sacramento ; and where passed 

 by us, they occupied a breadth from north to south of about forty 

 tones, though twice this distance by the zigzag course we followed. 



Entering the mountainous region, we travelled for several miles 

 over trachytic lava and trachyte, which lay in mounds and ridges, 

 or in, scattered blocks among the trees. The rock had a light 

 gray or grayish blue color, a nearly compact texture, a rough 

 surface of fracture, and contained slender crystals of hornblende. 

 J-t afforded in some places a light-gray ashy soil, which, near a 

 burnt tree, was occasionally of a pale reddish tint from the action 

 °f the heat. We had several views of the Shasty Peak through 

 openings in the mountains, and passed within a few miles of the 

 foot of a lofty cone lying near its western base. This cone had 

 re gular sloping sides, and truncate top, and was evidently an 

 extinct crater, made of ejected cinders. It retained all the fresh- 

 ness and regularity of a recent formation. 



Second Series, Vol. VII, No. 20— March, 1849. 32 



