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 swept 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 

 which 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 



