-460 General Notes. 
region was one in which it never rained. Their effort, therefore, 
was to do without rain. The settlements were made near springs 
or streams, both of which were few, and consequently the settle- 
ments limited. During the thirty-two months previous to last 
August enough rain had not fallen to produce vegetation of suffi- 
‘cient length to be cut for hay. e appearance of the country 
‘during the dry season is that of a waste, destitute of food for man 
or beast, except in favored spots along the creeks and springs; and 
if nature did not endow some of the plants with power to bloom 
and mature their fruits during different periods of the year, this desert 
country would be still more uninviting. The various numbers of 
the Cactus family produce their showy and attractive flowers dur- 
ing the dry season, these being followed by the sweet, juicy and 
nutritious fruit, during the hottest part of the year, about the last 
-of June. 
There are some forms of the Leguminosre which also bloom and 
mature fruit during the dry period when there are no leaves upon 
‘them. ese plants which bloom and fruit during the dry sea- 
son, though but a small portion of the whole, contrast very agree- 
‘ably with the pinched, withered, and resting plants that surround 
them. 
What adds still more to the desert appearance of the country at 
this season of the year is the character of the soil; the hills and 
mountains, which are very rocky, have now put on their sombrest, 
reddish brown, and not a vestige of green is observed upon their 
surface. 
A stranger coming into the country during the dry season would 
ask the question, “ When or how often does it rain?” A nist 
desiring to make a collection can only gather the plants that bloom 
during the dry season, and must wait for the rain in order to com- 
plete his colleetion. One serious effect of the insufficient rains 18 
seen when the shrubs and annuals start into growth after a shower, 
only to be killed or fail of maturity during the subsequent drought. 
The second cause of the scanty vegetation of this region 15 
excess of water. The violent rains and water-spouts which occa- 
sionally occur are exceedingly destructive. 
In 1717 there was a great rainfall, and those people who had 
come to the belief that it never rained there, and had only pro- 
vided themselves with the cheapest and easiest contrivances 1n 
which to live, found that it did rain— for forty-six hours 4t 
rained so excessively that it destroyed nearly all the food the in- 
habitants had. The churches and other buildings of the mission- 
aries were leveled to the ground, they being of unburnt brick, 
ared for planting; 
rains 
prepared. | 
