. +. 
- [a | 
- 
oes peaks, on which, 
solitude. _Within two degrees of the Pac cific bcean; already far south of the 
* latitude of Monterey; and still forced on south by a desert on one hand, and 
a mountain range on the other; guided by a civilized Indian, attend 
two wild ones from the Sierra;'a Chinook from the Columbia; and ¢ our own 
mixture of American, French, German—all armed; four or five lan, anguages 
heard at once: above a hundred horses and mules, half wild; American, 
Spanish, and Indian’ dresses and equipments intermingled—such was our 
composition. Our maych was a sort of procession. Scouts ahead, ng a 
the’ flanks ; a front and’ rear division: the pack animals, bagga 
horned cattle, in th centre; and the whole stretching a quarter o a ite 
' along our dreary et In this form we journeyed; ene more like we 
belonged to Asia thak to the United States of Ambric 
_ We continued in a southerly direction across the plitin, to which, as well 
as to “es the Soar so far as we could’ see, the yucca trees gave a strange 
hy ous. shrub (zyzop yllum Californieum Torr. & Frem.) 
: 1 fee in pdt in form, and in the per fai its gegen. it 
era 
« rec t Ane roian  pappee s 
ac ein the’ of the sf which Se, oeila eat B Bie" aicrerase ; 
and where the hills were verperen , our guide saint to a small hollow 
 ieeintaeats before us, saying, “éeste piedra hay agua.” He appeared 
to know every nook in the country. We continued our beautiful road, and 
reached a spring in the slope , at the foot of the ridge, running in a green 
ravine; among granite ulders; here nightshade, and borders of buck- 
_ wheat, with. their white blossoms around the granite rocks, attracted our 
notice as familiar plants. “Several antelopes were seen among the = and 
some large hates. Men w were sent back this evening in search of a wild 
mule with a valuable ack, which had managed.(as they frequently do) to 
hide its itself f along the oad. 
ee é. rvation, thee latitude of the camp. is 34° 41' i. gi ae 
118? 20° 0 i The next a the men teturned with the m 
PP ad Bee ig the’ . 
eral idee TC ke oe Eh of the ¢ 
Buenaventura dee The lake i 
nded on the margin by a'white s 
ee wasn oe 
* 
od 
