CALIFORNIA. 
181 
do not build canoes, although they admire and prize them highly; they 
are excellent swimmers, and in consequence of it do not need them in 
their narrow streams; they, however, make use of simple rafts, com¬ 
posed of one or two logs, generally split. 
The venereal disease is said to prevail to a great extent among 
them; and whole tribes have been sw T ept off by the small-pox. The 
former is said to have been communicated by the Indians who have 
been discharged from the mission. All agree that the Indians have 
been very unjustly treated by the governor. Cattle that had been 
given to them by the padres of the mission when they left it, have 
been taken away from them by this functionary, and added to his own 
stock — whence a saying has been derived, that the governor’s cows 
produce three times a year. The Spanish laws do not recognise the 
Indian title to lands, but consider them and the Indians also in the light 
of public property. 
Although the country around was parched up with the severe 
drought that had prevailed, yet the short grasses were abundant, and 
it was more completely covered with vegetation than that below. 
Scattered oaks are seen in all directions, some of which are of large 
dimensions, — five or six feet in diameter, and sixty or seventy feet high. 
The scenery was very much admired, and Mount Diavolo, near the 
mouth of the San Joachim, adds to its beauty. The mountains to the 
east are visible from Captain Suter’s settlement, and it is said that 
during some portions of the year they are covered with snow. A 
route across them was followed, directly east of this place, by a party, 
but they were twenty days in getting over, and found the country so 
thickly wooded that they were obliged to cut their way. The pass 
w r hich is recommended as better, is two hundred miles to the north of 
this place, through the gap made by the head waters of the Sacra¬ 
mento. This has led to the belief that Pitt’s river extends in this 
direction through and beyond them. 
The best route to the United States is to follow the San Joachim for 
sixty miles, thence easterly, through a gap in the Snowy Mountains, 
by a good beaten road; thence the course is northeasterly to Mary’s 
river, which flows southeast and has no outlet, but loses itself in a 
lake; thence continuing in the same direction, the Portneuf river, in 
the Upper Shoshone, is reached; and thence to Fort Hall. Accord¬ 
ing to Dr. Marsh, (an American of much intelligence, resident at the 
mouth of the San Joachim, to whom we are indebted for much infor¬ 
mation of the country,) there is plenty of fresh water and pasturage 
all the way, and no proper desert between the Californian Range and 
the Colorado. 
Q 
