WM. H. BREWER. 35 



cooked for his own use in the hot, boiling springs which 

 issued from the volcanic rocks. 



Along the northern shore of this lake there are many 

 curious tufa formations, the pictures of some of which I 

 show you. South of the lake are a number of volcanic 

 cones, the ascent of which, up their steep sides of loose 

 ashes, was one of the most fatiguing trips of my life. 



Separate portions of the great basin have their local 

 names. The Mohave Desert, the San Bernadino Desert, 

 and so on, are names well known there. 



The atmospheric effects are as wonderful and as strik- 

 ing as the topographic. Week after week, yes, month 

 after month, there is a cloudless sky, the sun blazing 

 through the dry air with an intensity never known in 

 our climate. When I was in Owen's Valley, the rain 

 gauge kept at Camp Independence, showed that there had 

 been but | of an inch of rain in the previous 18 months. 



You may wonder if any vegetation can withstand such 

 drought. Yes, there are many species adapted to such a 

 climate. Most of them are low shrubs, of which Sage 

 Brushy Greasewood, and Creosote Bush are typical ex- 

 amples. All the shrubs that we know as inhabitants, of 

 our climate, if once thoroughly dried are killed. Not so 

 with those. They may dry up as completely as do the 

 mosses or lichens on our rocks ; their vegetative func- 

 tions are suspended for the time being, but when rains 

 come they then put forth their leaves and renew their 

 growth. As a botanist I studied this vegetation with in- 

 tense interest. I cannot further descant upon it here, 

 than to say that these plants can withstand a drought of 

 several rainless years, suspending their vegetative func- 

 tions while it lasts, without giving up their life; but 

 when exceptional rains do come they put forth their 

 leaves and flowers and continue their life. There are 

 some small, herbaceous plants which spring up after 

 rainy seasons, their seeds remaining, I know not how 



