302 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 
A general idea of the surface will be given the reader if I 
say that the peninsula, or Lower California, which extends 
from Cape San Lucas in N. Lat. 22° 48', to the Bay of Todos 
Santos in Lat. 32° N., is a pile of barren volcanic mountains, 
with very few streams, and still fewer spots of ground capable 
of sustaining vegetation ; and if I state that the country lying 
north of this peninsula, called Upper California, is perhaps the 
most beautiful and productive in the world; and that the ter¬ 
ritory lying north and south of the Colorado of the West, 
and within the boundaries just given to the Californias, is a 
howling desolation. But as so general a description of a 
country, that has never been described, will scarcely meet the 
expectations of my readers, I shall proceed to particulars as 
far as my space will allow. 
Lower California. —The Gulf of California lies on the 
east of the Southern Province. The Rio Colorado enters it 
at its northern part. At the junction of these waters we will 
commence our view of Lower California. 
From the highlands near the mouth of this river, a wild 
and somewhat interesting scene opens. In the east appears 
a line of mountains of a dark hue, stretching down the coast 
of the Gulf as far as the eye can reach. These heights are 
generally destitute of trees; but timber grows in some of the 
ravines. The general aspect, however, is far from pleasing. 
There is such a vastness of monotonous desolation ; so dry, 
so blistered with volcanic fires; so forbidding to the wants 
of thirsting and hungering men, that one gladly turns his eye 
upon the water, the Mar de Cortez , the Gulf of California. 
The Colorado, two and a half miles in width, rushes into this 
Gulf with great force, lashing as it goes the small islands 
lying at its mouth, and for many leagues around the waters of 
the Gulf are discolored by its turbulent flood. On the west 
sweep away the mountains of Lower California. These also 
are a thirsty mass of burned rocks, so dry that vegetation finds 
no resting-place among them. But they lift themselves nobly 
to the clouds, and look so venerable in their baldness, that 
