95 
Starting on the return journey on February 16 we beat up 
against a northwest wind which finally freshened until we were 
compelled to land on the following day on a sandy beach fifteen 
miles north of San Felipe Bay on a lee shore. This maneuver 
was accompanied by some risk to the collection but was accom- 
plished with only slight damage to the rudder of the boat. Ad- 
ditional collections were made at this place, and good views were 
had of the crest of the Tablita range, which constitutes the cen- 
tral ridge of the peninsula in the northern part. This range rises 
gradually from the Pacific shore by an easy slope of twenty-five 
to thirty miles to the crest finding its culmination in the peak of 
Calamahue, also known as Santa Catalina and San Pedro Martyr, 
at a height which has been estimated at over ten thousand feet. 
On the eastward slope the main range appears to fall away with 
cliff-like abruptness and to offer a labyrinthine series of minor 
ridges which occupy the region eastward nearly to the gulf. No 
‘passes are known f the Tablita range between its northern end 
and Agua Dulce a hundred and twenty-five miles to the south- 
ward. This region is an actual terra incognita, and no maps or 
plans are in existence that give any suggestion as to the topog- 
raphy, and it is doubtful whether even the Indian and the Mexi- 
can have made the toilsome traverse of its waterless ridges and 
burning plains. For two centuries this mountainous desert east 
of the Calamahue has stood as an open challenge to the ar 
and the prospector, and the only information to be foun 
atlases is that obtained by the navigators of the gulf in ere 
range marks in the distant peaks, the elevations having been ob- 
tained in the same manner. Perhaps no section of the country 
offers equal interest to the naturalist. A survey of its more 
prominent vegetative and topographical features might be safely 
accomplished by means of an expedition carefully organized with 
reference to the actual conditions to be encountered. 
We succeeded in entering the mouth of the river on the 19th 
and were carried along by wind and tide nearly as far up as the 
mouth of the Hardy branch of the river. From this point to 
Colonia Lerdo progress was made chiefly by manning the sweeps 
and taking a tow-line ashore from the masthead, with which, by 
