RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
CHAPTER I. 
CHOROGRAPHY. 
81. General Remarks——Ca.irorni4 has a peculiar cho- 
rography. No other country comprises within so small a 
space, such various, so many, and such strongly-marked cho- 
rographical divisions. Mountains the most steep, barren, and 
rugged; valleys the most fertile and beautiful; deserts the 
most sterile; spacious bays, magnificent rivers, unparalleled 
waterfalls, picturesque lakes, extensive marshes, broad prairies, 
and dense forests—all these are hers. 
In general shape, California is a long parallelogram, extend- 
ing from latitude 32° 45’ to 42° north, seven hundred miles in 
length by one hundred and eighty in breadth, the course of 
the longitudinal axis being north-northwest by south-southeast. 
The first topographical division of the state may be into the 
Coast and Interior districts, separated from each other by the 
main ridge of the Coast Mountains, which runs the whole 
length of the state, nearly parallel with the ocean, and about 
fifty miles from it. The Coast district may be subdivided into 
the Coast Mountains and the Coast Valleys. The Interior 
district may be subdivided into the Sierra Nevada, the Sac- 
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