IQQ CALIFORNIA. 



California, and Oregon also. All agree that the middle and extensive 

 portion of this country is destitute of the requisites for supplying the 

 wants of man. 



In climate, California varies as much if not even more than in 

 natural features and soil. On the coast range, it has as high a mean 

 temperature in winter as in summer. The latter is in fact the coldest 

 part of the year, owing to the constant prevalence of the north- 

 west winds, which blow with the regularity of a monsoon, and are 

 exceedingly cold, damp, and uncomfortable, rendering fire often 

 necessary for comfort in midsummer. This is, however, but seldom 

 resorted to, and many persons have informed me that they have suf- 

 fered more from cold at Monterey, than in places of a much higher 

 latitude. The climate thirty miles from the coast undergoes a great 

 change, and in no part of the world is there to be found a finer or 

 more equable one than in the valley of San Juan. It more resembles 

 that of Andalusia, in Spain, than any other, and none can be more 

 salubrious. The cold winds of the coast have become warmed, and 

 have lost their force and violence, though they retain their freshness 

 and purity. This strip of country is that in which the far-famed 

 missions have been established ; and the accounts of these have led 

 many to believe that the whole of Upper California was well adapted 

 for agricultural uses. This is not the case, for the small district 

 already pointed out is the only section of country where these ad- 

 vantages are to be found. This valley extends beyond the pueblo 

 of San Juan, or to the eastward of Monterey : it is of no great extent, 

 being about twenty miles long by twelve wide. 



The Sierra, which separates the valley of San Juan from that of 

 Buena Ventura, is about one thousand five hundred feet high, barren 

 and sandy. Pines cover its summit, and the climate is exceedingly 

 dry and arid, though cooled by the fresh wind that passes beyond 

 them. Next comes the central valley of Buena Ventura, which is a 

 continuation of the Sacramento, and through which the San Joachim 

 flows. Being confined within the two ranges of mountains, and not 

 having the same causes operating to modify the temperature as the 

 smaller valley of San Juan, the heats of its summer are oppressive, 

 the thermometer ranging, it is said, higher than within the torrid 

 zone, and the heat continuing without cessation. 



Although the Californian Range is covered with snow in close 

 proximity to this valley, it seems to have but little effect in modi- 



