78 Eeviews — The Resources of Calif ovnia, 



V. — The Eesotjkces of California : Comprising Agriculture, 

 Mining, Geography, Climate, Commerce, etc., and the Past 

 AND Future Development of the State. By John S. Hittell. 

 Second Edition. With an Appendix on Oregon and Washington 

 Territory. 1866. 8vo., pp. 494. London : Tkubner & Co. 



PEEHAPS no country in the world has risen in importance in so 

 brief a space of time, or obtained for itself so much notoriety, 

 as California. Before 1846 California was held under grants from 

 Mexico by about 800 rancheros, or grazing farmers, occupying on an 

 average 12,000 acres each ; but suddenly, by the greatest immigra- 

 tion ever witnessed in modern times, — its population, which in 1848 

 did not exceed 15,000, in 1860 attained a total of more than 380,000, 

 325,000 of whom were emigrants or miners, composed of Americans, 

 Irish, Germans, Canadians, Britons, and a miscellaneous assemblage 

 from all countries of the earth. It will not seem so astonishing 

 that this distant country should have attracted so many settlers, 

 when we state, upon the authority of Mr. Hittell, that the yield of 

 gold alone, in 1848, and the twelve years which followed, amounted 

 in the aggregate to 700,000,000 dols. But the resources of Cali- 

 'fornia are not confined to Gold-mines, valuable as these are. 

 California possesses mines of Silver, Quicksilver, and Copper ore, 

 whilst Platinum, Iridium, and Osmium are also obtained associated 

 with the Gold. The general Geological structure of California is 

 Paleozoic. The scarcity of stratified rocks is plainly discernible, 

 only Primary, Eruptive, and Metamorphic Kocks make such steep 

 hill-sides. Many other rocks beside Granite appear in irregularly 

 distributed patches, such as Basalt, Lava, Trap, and Trachyte. Some 

 very remarkable hills of Basalt, called "Table Mountains," are 

 found in the Sierra Nevada. A Tertiary Sandstone, some of which 

 is metamorphic, underlies the valleys of the Sacramento, the San 

 Joaquin, and the coast, and is seen in the Coast Mountains, the Great 

 Basin, and Colorado Desert. Granite occupies all the higher portions 

 of the mountainous districts, the Great Basin, and the borders of the 

 Colorado. No other country comprises within so small a space, 

 scenery so various, or so strongly marked. " Mountains the most 

 steep, barren, and rugged ; valleys the most fertile and beautiful ; 

 deserts the most sterile ; spacious bays, magnificent rivers, un- 

 paralleled waterfalls, picturesque lakes, extensive marshes, broad 

 prairies, and dense forests, — all these axe hers." The author gives 

 us descriptions of the Cliorograjyhy (physical geography), Climate, 

 Geology, Scenery, Botany, Zoology, Agriculture, Mining and other 

 branches of industry. Constitution, and Society of California. To 

 those desirous to obtain a knowledge of this interesting country we 

 cannot recommend a more suitable work. 



laiEiPOSTS J5^3^nD I=I^oc:BEX)I3^a-s. 



Geological Society op London. — I. December 20, 1865. — Sir 

 Charles Lyell, Bart., in the Chair.— The following communication 



