: L 174 ] 256 
half a degree of the ocean, running parallel to it for about two degrees, 
~ and then falling into the Pacific near Monterey. . There is no opening from 
the bay of San Francisco into’the interior of the continent. The two 
“rivers which flow into it are comparatively short, and not perpendicular 
to the eoast, but lateral to it, and having their heads towards Oregon and 
‘southern California. They open lines of communication north and south, 
and not eastwardly ; and thus this want of interior communication from 
the San Franciséo bay, now fully ascertained, gives great additional yalue 
to the Columbia, which stands alone as the only great river on the Pacific 
slope of our continent which leads from the ocean to the ocky mountains, 
and opens a line of communication from the sea to the valley of the Mis- 
sissippi. : eS 
: Four compavieros joined our guide at the pass; and two going back at 
© noon, the othérs continued onin company. De ding from the hills, we 
reached 4 country of fine grass, where the erodium cicutarium finally dis- 
appeared, giving place to an excellent quality of bunch grass. Passing by 
some springs where there was a rich sward of grass among groves of large 
‘black oak, we rode over a plain on which the guide pointed out a spot 
where a refugee Christian Indian had been killed by a party of soldiers 
which had unexpectedly penetrated into the mountains. Crossing a low 
sierra,.and descending a hollow where a spring gushed out, we were struck 
_byethe sudden appearance of yucca trees, which gave a strange and south- 
ern character to the country, and suited well with the dry and desert re- 
gion we were’approaching. Associated with the idea of barren sands, their 
‘stiff and ungraceful form makes them to the traveller the most repulsive 
tree in the vegetable kingdom. Following the hollow, we shortly came 
upon a creek timbered with large black oak, which yet had not put fortha 
‘leaf. There was a small rivulet of running water, with good grass. 
April 15.—The Indians who had accompanied the guide returned this 
morning, and I purchased from them a Spanish saddle and long spurs, as 
reminiscences of the time ; and for a few yards of scarlet cloth they gave 
me a horse, which afterwards became food for other Indians. 
We continued a short distance down the creek, in which our guide in- 
which it had a white and glistening appearance ; here and there a few dry- 
king butfes and isolated black ridges rose suddenly up at. “There,” 
id our guide, stretching out his hand towards it, “there are the great 
(plain 
of thing ; every animal that goes out upon them, dies.” 
traveller turned away in despair. : 
some distance to the southward, and running 
from the mountains, stretched a sierra, having 
