742 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



rains, September is the wettest month. There is then 

 sometimes rain for two or three days in succession in the 

 lowland, while in the high mountains the thunder may be 

 heard daily for weeks and the rain be seen precipitated in 

 showers when the mountains are viewed from the plains be- 

 low. In the various parts of the Cape Region the rainfall 

 is most unequal. In a general way it may be said to in- 

 crease in quantity from the north southwards and from 

 the lowlands towards the sierras or mountains. Thus in 

 the vicinity of La Paz the rain is less than two inches a 

 year. Here there may be no rainfall for three years ex- 

 cept a slight drizzling, not enough to start the grass. But 

 even a few leagues southward the rainfall has so increased 

 that there is yearly pasture for the stock. This character 

 extends along the gulf coast southward, the rain always 

 being much scarcer along the shore than a few miles in- 

 land, but it gradually increases towards the Bay of San 

 Jose del Cabo. 



The valley of San Jose del Cabo is about forty miles 

 long by two and three wide, and is by far the most 

 abundantly watered on the whole peninsula. The upper 

 end of the valley is at Miraflores, which is about looo 

 feet higher than the ocean or San Jose. 



At this place the rain is every year abundant and cer- 

 tain, and while no rain-gauge has ever been used it is safe 

 to say that the summer rainfall amounts to about twenty 

 inches, while at San Jose it probably does not reach twelve 

 inches. At Miraflores the rain commences much earlier, 

 sometimes several weeks earlier than at San Jose. But 

 even within the very narrow valley of San Jose the rain- 

 fall is remarkably local. Thus the rain may be seen to 

 reach from the north Santa Anita, Santa Catarina and 

 other places within ten miles of San Jose several weeks 

 before it reaches San Jose. This rain' from the north 



