A LAND OF DROUGHT AND DESERT 



457 



NATIVE HOUSES AMONG THE DATE PALMS IN THE VAEEEY AT SAN IGNACIO 

 Over 50,000 date-palm trees are growing in this beautiful oasis 



beach, to take on or leave passengers 

 and freight. 



EA PAZ IS AN ATTRACTIVE TOWN 



La Paz, the oldest and most attractive 

 town in Lower California, is at the head 

 of La Paz Bay, in the Gulf. It is the 

 capital of the southern district and the 

 chief commercial port of the peninsula, 

 containing nearly 6,000 people. The 

 streets are well laid out and there are 

 some excellent stores and many com- 

 fortable houses. The gardens are filled 

 with palms and various tropical fruit 

 trees, which give the place a strongly 

 tropical appearance though set in the 

 midst of an excessively arid desert plain. 

 Water is abundant near the surface and 

 is pumped for irrigation purposes. La 

 Paz has always been the base of the pearl 

 fisheries, which extend along the east 

 coast of the peninsula and far down the 

 west coast of the Mexican mainland. 

 North of La Paz the only towns on the 

 Gulf coast are the small agricultural set- 

 tlements at Loreto and Mulege and the 



busy mining camp of Santa Rosalia, the 

 largest town in Lower California. 



A EAND OP EITTEE RAIN 



The climate of Lower California in 

 general is hot and arid, as evidenced by 

 the existing desert conditions. In the 

 northern part conditions are closely like 

 those in the adjoining parts of southern 

 California ; in the middle they are more 

 arid, but the extreme southern end, 

 though arid tropical, has more regular 

 summer rains. The rainfall on the pen- 

 insula comes from two sources. The 

 winter rainy season along the north 

 Pacific coast extends commonly over the 

 northern parts of Lower California, and 

 sometimes winter storms reach its ex- 

 treme southern end. In summer the 

 tropical rainy season extends across 

 from the Mexican mainland to the south- 

 ern end, and sporadic storms sometimes 

 reach the northern border. The penin- 

 sula lies on the outer borders of the areas 

 covered by both these rainy seasons and 



