A LAND OF DROUGHT AND DESERT 



459 



mm 



OLD MISSION CHURCH AT SAN 1GNACIO, BUII.T IN 1 728 



THERE ARK NO STREAMS OR RIVERS 



As a consequence of the lack of rain, 

 surface water is very scarce and limited 

 mainly to isolated water-holes in the 

 rocks, or to springs from which small 

 streams flow a short distance and then 

 sink in the thirsty earth. In all its ex- 

 tended shore-line of more than 2,000 

 miles, only four or five small permanent 

 streams reach the seashore, and all but 

 one or two of these have their origin in 

 springs rising a few miles inland, in the 

 dry beds of canyons or other drainage 

 channels. 



The Rio Santo Domingo is the one 

 living stream within the peninsula which 

 flows on the surface from its source to 

 the sea throughout the year. It rises 

 high up on the west side of the San 

 Pedro Martir Mountains and flows into 

 the Pacific north of San Quintin. 



This river — which is only a fair-sized 

 creek — also has the distinction of being 



the only stream in Lower California 

 which contains brook trout. In its course 

 through a canyon in the foothills above 

 San Antonio ranch we found many trout 

 from 6 to 15 inches long. These proved 

 to be a new species, related to the rain- 

 bow trout of California. 



The next permanent stream, the Ar- 

 royo del Rosario, south of San Quintin, 

 rises in the dry water-course and flows a 

 few miles in the lower part of its channel 

 to the sea. From this point southeasterly 

 no flowing stream touches the shore until 

 the mouth of the Arroyo de Todas San- 

 tos is reached, a distance of about 700 

 miles along the coast-line. 



The eastern shore of the peninsula is 

 even more poorly provided with running 

 water, as the stream at Mulege is the 

 only one until the mighty Colorado pours 

 its flood into the head of the Gulf. In 

 many places along both shores, however, 

 good water may be obtained a few feet 

 below the surface in flats or in the bot- 



