TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 
303 
one feels an ill-defined but absorbing interest in viewing them. 
Man never treads their treeless heights—he finds among them 
neither food nor drink; nor will they ever resound with the 
voices and tumults of human life. Still, is there not in a 
wilderness of barren mountains a vast idea of chilling un¬ 
changeableness which inspires a feeling of awe and reve¬ 
rence ? The poor Indians thought so. They peopled them 
with gods, and trembled when the moon lighted them dimly 
at night, and when the elements groaned among them. They 
stand a vast assemblage of red and brown dearth, extending 
in a bold jagged line broader and higher, onward and up¬ 
ward, till they fade away among the bright clouds and dew¬ 
less skies of Lower California : that field of trial for men who 
would plant on the heart of the Indian the seeds of a holy 
life; the scenes of the labors, hopes and sufferings, of Padres 
Salva Tierra and Ugarte ; the burning-place of Padres Cor- 
rando’s and TamaraPs martyrdom ! We will describe that 
country as it now exists. 
That province of Lower California, extends from Cape San 
Lucas to the Bay of Todcs Santos, and varies from thirty to 
one hundred and fifty miles in width, a superficial extent al¬ 
most equal to that of Great Britain ; and yet on account of 
its barrenness, never will, from the products of the soil, main¬ 
tain five hundred thousand people in a state of comfort, ordi¬ 
narily found in the civilized condition. This statement may 
seem surprising to those who are acquainted with the geolo¬ 
gical fact that, though it is a volcanic country, the lava and 
other volcanic matter is decomposing at the usual rate. But 
surprise will cease when such persons are informed that every 
few years tornadoes sweep over the country with such vio¬ 
lence, and bearing with them such floods of rain, that what¬ 
ever of soil has been in any manner previously formed, is 
swept into the sea. So that even those little nooks among 
the mountains, where the inhabitants from time to time make 
their fields, and task the vexed earth for a scanty subsistence, 
are liable to be laid bare by the torrents. In case the soil 
