CALIFORNIA. 
83 
the latter has its head near the foot of the Sierra 
Nevada. 
The San Gabriel river waters the neigh- 
bourhood of La Ciudad de los Angeles, the 
city of angels, which is situated about 25 miles 
north of the Bay of San Pedro, into which the 
Gabriel runs. The Salinas River (on some 
maps laid down as the Rio San Buenaventura) 
empties into the Pacific near Monterey. The 
Bear River runs into the Great Salt Lake. 
This lake occurs between 40° and 42° north 
latitude, and is estimated at 100 miles in 
length, by 50 miles in breadth. The Utah 
lake, a body of fresh water, between 60 and 
80 miles in crcumference, empties itself into 
the Salt Lake. About 60 miles north of the 
Bay of San Francisco, is a lake called Laguna 
by the Californians ; this is between 40 and 
60 miles in length, and the valleys in its 
vicinity are fertile and beautiful. Near this 
lake is a mountain of pure sulphur. (Bryant.) 
Inth^ Sierra Nevada there are several other 
salt lakes. 
Lower California as a country is dry, moun- 
tainous, and sterile, but possesses some fine 
fertile valleys, as that of San Jose, 20 miles 
north of Cape St. Lucas, the northern ex- 
tremity of the peninsula. 
Climate. — The climate of Lower California 
is described as being exceedingly dry and hot. 
In some parts it does not rain every year, and 
in others, it is even said not at all ! Only 
the southern portion receives the annual rains, 
which continue for a period of about two 
months, in September and October. More- 
over, the heat is excessive ; the thermometer 
reaching 100° or 110°, or higher; the mini- 
mum degree of heat is not stated. 
Upper California has a cooler, and, in win- 
ter, a moister climate, although even here the 
climate is strictly seasonal, and varies con- 
siderably in different parts. The rainy season 
extends from November to February, and in 
the northern districts the fall is very abun- 
dant, decreasing towards the south. The 
summer, however, is very dry, no rain, or 
but few and slight showers falling at that 
season. The mountain tops are covered with 
snow for a portion of the year, but the lakes 
in the valleys to the southward do not appear 
to be frozen over. Even here the heat is 
very powerful, the thermometer ranging 80° 
and upwards. On the banks of the Rio Colo- 
rado, Dr. Coulter observed a temperature of 
140° in the open air ; but this was in a sandy 
desert. Exact and detailed observations of 
temperature seem to be wanting. 
More recent information on the subject of 
climate is afforded by Mr. Hartweg,* who 
states that at Monterey the [average ?] tem- 
* Journal Hort. Soc. ii. 191. 
perature of the summer months ranges from 
62° to 65° Fahrenheit, and at the begin- 
ning of the winter season, when the rains set 
in, from 50" to 55" by day. The rainy days 
are succeeded by frosty mornings, but the cold 
"is seldom so intense as to freeze water. By 
the beginning of November, El Toro, which 
lies east of Monterey, had been twice covered 
with snow, which soon disappeared again. 
According to Mr. Hartweg, the periodic rains, 
which set in with November, continue till the 
end of March, the heaviest fall occurring in 
January and February. The climate of a 
large portion of Upper California is therefore 
well suited to vegetable life, and must render 
the cultivable ground, which is very pro- 
lific, well adapted for agricultural pursuits. 
Mr. Bryantf has supplied some additional 
particulars. In traversing the district between 
the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, 
in the months of July and August, he has 
frequent occasion to record the congelation of 
water in the buckets : on one occasion the ice 
formed was a quarter of an inch in thickness. 
He nevertheless speaks of the mornings as 
being generally exceedingly pleasant, the 
atmosphere dry, elastic, and bracing. During 
the same month, the heat of the sun was found 
to be " excessive.'' On one occasion, a fall of 
rain in fifteen minutes reduced the tempera- 
ture from 82° to 44°. In August, the tempe- 
rature at 9 a.m. is stated on one occasion to 
be " intensely hot." He rarely found it so 
cold, in the settled portions of California, as 
to congeal water ; but twice while here did he 
see ice, and snow on the ground not at all. The 
annual rains, which commence in November, 
are not continuous, as is generally supposed, 
but alternate with intervals of pleasant spring- 
like weather. From May to November, 
usually no rain falls, but there are exceptions; 
it sometimes rains in August. The thermo- 
meter rarely sinks below 50°, or rises above 
80°. The climate of the coast of Upper Cali- 
fornia is said to yield to none in the world for 
salubrity. 
Of the climate of particular districts, Mr. 
Bryant states some further particulars. About 
Nueva Helvetia, on the Sacramento, the sky 
is cloudless, with a delightful temperature. 
In the middle of the day the sun shines with 
power, but in the shade the heat is nowhere 
uncomfortable. San Francisco has a peculiar 
climate from its position. The mornings are 
usually calm, and pleasantly warm ; after noon 
the wind blows strongly from the ocean, ren- 
dering the temperature cool enough for woollen 
clothing at midsummer ; at sunset this wind 
dies away, and the nights are calm. In winter 
the temperature is agreeable, seldom falling 
t Journal of a Tour in California in 1846-7. 
g2 
