48 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OP THE COUNTRY. 



Soutli of fhe Red river^ also^ tlie plains are not unfrequently covered with, a growth of mezquite 

 treeSj (algaroha^) of which there are many varieties. This tree varies in size according to the 

 character of the soil and quantity of rain. It is usually from fifteen to thirty feet in height, 

 crooked, gnarled, and armed with thorns. The wood is hard and full of knots^ and is unfit for 

 purposes of carpentry, hut in other respects it fulfils many of the economical uses of life. It is 



makes 



um which ft 



to gum-arabic, hut to the traveller its most important quality is the fruit which it bears — a 

 nutritioiis bean, much relished by animals, and not wholly unsuited to the tastes pf man. 



The vegetation of the mountain and basin region, while it differs materially in the genera 

 and species of plants according to the locality, possesses, nevertheless, a general similarity which 

 is striking and peculiar. I have described that of the plateau or levels as consisting of a 

 diminutive growth of shrubs ; but as we ascend from these to the he 



Q L±MJC3 \JL UULVy OKA.1 X \J \.LlX\A.i.l.±^ 



mountai 



is we pass through a succession of floral products, varying in character according to 

 the elevation to which we ascend, until we reach a sub-Alpine flora. North of the parallel of 

 32^ this appears at the height of about six thousand feet above the sea. 



In situations protected from the winds we usually find, at this height, pines and cedars, and 

 at a less elevation different varieties of oak. Wherever this region i*5 traversed by water- 

 courses, cotton-wood and occasionally sycamore grow on the edges of the streams. There are 

 throughout this region, on the sides of the mountains, growths of pine, oak, and cedar, which 

 are quite extended and present a forest-like appearance, hut nowhere, until we begin to descend 

 the Pacific slope and get within the influence of the humidity from the ocean, do we encounter 

 timber at all approximating in size or luxuriance of growth the forests with which we are 



famil 



The Pacific 



Sacrament 



and .its tributaries, it is not my intention to describe in this general sketch 



memoirs 



showers and fogs from 



the ocean, it presents a different and more inviting picture than the country to the east of it. 

 It is on this slope that we find that stupendous growth of red-wood, the accounts of which 



almost 



We 



adaptation, both in soil and climate, to the production of the cereal plants. About Santa 



mountains 



thence the coast deflects 



sharply to the east ; and below, or south of this point, the trade- winds, which sweep along the 

 Pacific coast, charged with humidity for nine months in the year, from as far north as the 

 Aleutian islands, seem to diminish in force, and finally die away, at the lowest extremity of 

 California. The mountain range at Santa Barbara cuts oif these humid winds from the land to 



my 



we reach the region of the tropical rains, no crops can be raised with anything like certainty 

 without irrigation. South of this range, the agricultural character of the country is much the 



mountain 



Ma 



o 



months (July, August, September, and October) 



be felt in great force. 



meteor 



point 58.13. 



sufficient quantity to be measured. The mean 



w 



,853, the thermometer 68.37, and the mean dew- 



mountain svstem 



