Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



293 



five to ten miles in width, of great fertility and which, in the month of 

 May, is almost one unbroken field of waving grain. This plain is swept 

 every afternoon in summer by the sea-breeze, and there is no doubt the 

 breeze here is less violent and less cold than it is in San Francisco, though 

 nothing intervenes but a smooth sheet of water. 



This plain may be considered a portion of the valley of San Jose, which 

 extends southerly from the neighborhood of San Francisco, some 70 or 

 80 miles, between the broken hills of the coast and the main ridge of the 

 Coast Range. This valley, as well as others similarly situated, among the 

 straggling ridges of the Coast Range, such as Nappa, Santa Cruz, San 

 Pablo, &c, enjoys the most delightful climate in the world. The fierce 

 gale which drives through the streets of San Francisco, is here tempered 

 into a bland and bracing breeze. The malaria, so prevalent in the great 

 valley of the interior, is here unknown. The husbandman reaps the 

 abundant harvests of the fertile soil in health and comfort. For two 

 months he reaps, leaving the grain in the field, and for two months more 

 he threshes and winnows, allowing the bags of grain to stand where they 

 are filled, without the slightest apprehension of a shower. No thunder 

 ever disturbs the serenity of the sky. These delicious valleys are indeed 

 the Ed ens of the west. 



Besides these three climates in California, that of the coast, that of the 

 interior, and that of the small valleys which lie among the scattered 

 branches of the Coast Range, there is yet a fourth, the climate of the 

 mountains. But this, with the exception of its dry season, has merely 

 the characteristics of other mountain climates, the heat decreasing with 

 the altitude. 



These are the summer climates. In the winter there is no perceptible 

 difference in the weather throughout California, except the very small dif- 

 ference caused by the latitude, and the very great difference caused by the 

 altitude. In the lowlands the climate is very similar to April in New 

 England, or perhaps, it may be more nearly compared to our spring, from 

 the middle of March to the middle of May. There is no snow, though 

 frosts are frequent. Near San Francisco, peas are planted in October, and 

 strawberries are to be had every day in the year. Still, ice has been 

 known to form half an inch thick in a night. On the mountains, snow 

 falls to a great depth. Indeed, the stories which are told of its depth 

 are incredible, many persons having assured the writer that it would av- 

 erage ten feet. Nearly all the rains are with the wind from the south, 

 probably caused by the simple cooling of the air in moving from a lower 

 to a higher latitude. Occasionally, about once in a season, there is a rain 

 with the wind from the north. The climate is remarkably serene. There 

 are very few gales or high winds. In the winter it is generally calm. 

 In the summer, in the interior, there is generally a very mild breeze, more 

 than half of the time from the south ; and, very unaccountably, the wind 

 from this direction is generally cooler than the wind from the northwest, 

 Probably the reason why there is no thunder and lightning, or so little, is, 

 that there are no showers or clouds in the summer. That the sea breeze, 

 with its accompanying dryness, does not continue through the winter, is 

 probably attributable to the diminished force of the sun's rays in his with- 

 drawal to the south. 



