Sie rim y 
the timber readereid it a keep the: main line ‘of the rivér; and this 
evening. we enca mped-o a tributary stream, about five iniles. from its 
mouth. On the gratia Grdering the San Joaquin yggenet —— 
during the day but little grass, and in its place- wa asa se and devact 
growth of a the soil being sandy, with small bare hed ai hillocks, 
me much of the Platte bottoms; but, on approaching the timber, _ 
a found a more bo ee vegetation ; and at our camp Was an ablidance: 
of grass and pea vin 
The foliage of the aki is getting darker ; and every thing, except thatthe 
weather is a little cool, shows that spring is rapidly wivaticings and to-day 
we had quite a summer rain. > 
April 4.— Commenced to rain at daylight, but cleared off brightly at sun- | 
rise. We ferried the river without any difficulty, and continued up the San — 
Joaquin. . Elk were running in bands over the prairie and in the skirt of 
-the timber. _ We reached the river again at the mouth of a large slough, 
which we were unable to ford, and made a cireuit of several miles aroun 
Here the country appears very flat; oak trees have entirely disappeared, 
and are replaced by a large willow, nearly equal to itin size. The riv 
about a hundred yards in breadth, branching into sloughs, and a 
with isla At this time it appears sufficiently deep for a small steamer, 
but its navigation would be broken by shallows at low water... Bearifig in 
towards the river, we were again forced off by another slough ; and, pass- © — 
ing around, steered towards a clump of trees on the river, and , finding | 
there good grass, encamped. The prairies Joie the left bank are alive 
with immense droves of wild horses; and they had been seen pets the 
~ day at every opening through the woods which afforded us a view a 
the river. Latitude, by observation, 37° 08' 00"; longitude 120° 45' 22. 2." 
April 5 —During the earlier part of the"day’s ride, the country presented 
. lacustrine appearance ; the river was deep, and nearly on a level with the 
pal ng —— i - banks raised like a Jaedis and fringed with wil- 
oa ng plain were interspersed spots of ede 
fields of rll (bulrtshes = Shih i in this | a are ca sails led tulares, 
* 
tle ponds. he opposite side, a line of timber was visible, “gr iS. 
cording to informations points out the course of the slough, wwhinh at 
of high water, ects with the San Joaquin river—a large body vicar! in 
the upper part of the valley, called the Tule lakes. The river — > its 
sloughs are very full, and it is probable that the lake is now discharging. 
Here elk were irequently started, and one was shot out of a band w ich ran 
around us. On our left, the Sierra maintains its snowy heig 
of snow appear to descend very low towards the plains ; probably th late 
rains in the valley were snow on the mountains. We travelled 37 mi 
and encamped on the river. Longitude of the camp, 120° 28’ 34", ande 
de 36° 49’ 12". 
__ April 6.—After having travelled 15 miles along the'river, we made an __ 
early halt, under the shade of sycamore trees. Here we found the San 
Joaquin coming down from the Sierga with a westerly course, and c ne 
ing our way, as all its tributaries had previously done. We ba e 
to raft the river; but found agood ford, and encamped on the opposite b 
where droves of wild horses were raising clouds of dust on the pr 
Columns of smoke were visible in the direction of the Tulé lakes to 
southward—probably | — in the tulares by the “i as. < pnals: 
were strangers in — # i 
# co 
Anak 
