PALM TREES, AGAYE AND CACTACEiE. 
123 
so strongly charged with these ingredients as to he unpleasant to drink, especially after having 
used the stagnant and muddy water of the Desert. I found its temperature, under the shade of 
a palm tree, to he 60° ; air, 70°. Three or four palm trees, each about thirty feet high, are 
standing on the hank from which the springs issue. They are much injured by fire and the 
persevering attacks of emigrants, who have cut down many of the finest of the group, as if 
determined that the only trees that grace the sandy avenue to the Desert, and afford a cool 
shade for the springs, should he destroyed. 
The Maguey, a species of Agave, or the “ American aloe,” grows abundantly in the sands 
along the dry bed of this part of the creek, and in some places it completely covers the ground 
for long distances. This plant sends up tall cylindrical stems to a height of ten to fifteen feet, 
bearing immense clusters of beautiful yellow flowers. These bunches are almost large enough 
to fill a flour-barrel; one of them that I cut down was too heavy to be conveniently carried. 
Numerous varieties of cactacese, from the opuntia and melocactus, or “ Turk’s Head,” to the 
most slender and thorny species, grow abundantly among the plants of the Agave. These 
plants, together with the Fouqueria, Dalea , and the palm trees, give a peculiar character to 
the landscape. 
The mountains on each side are entirely bald and free from soil. They present a most rugged 
and forbidding aspect, and reflect back into the valley the scorching rays of the sun, and keep 
off all the cooling breezes. The climate of the valley is thus exceedingly hot; it is even more 
uncomfortable than the open Desert. The sun’s rays seem to have peculiar power and effect; 
and more animals die in this valley, after reaching the water, than on the open Desert. 
Near to Vallecito, the valley grows narrow, and the ascent more rapid. The sedimentary 
strata are no longer seen, and the granitic rocks appear and form the high ridges on each side. 
These ridges are barren ; and by long weathering have become of a dark-brown and nearly 
black hue, and in some portions present various shades of a dull red. 
December 16.— Vallecito to San Felipe , 18 miles .—Vallecito is the first place where grass and 
vegetation greet the eyes of the traveller who has crossed the dreary Desert. It is a narrow 
valley between the granite ridges, and is well supplied with springs that are surrounded with 
grass and willows. These springs furnish good water, slightly impregnated with sulphuretted 
hydrogen and alkaline salts. Nearly opposite the camping-ground the granite is gneissoidal 
and slaty ; but it passes into the more compact and hard variety within a short distance. The 
whole is traversed by feldspathic veins. ^ 
The ridges on the right of Vallecito appear to have a distinct trend to the east of north— 
nearly N. 45° E.—while those on the left bear off to the west, or N. 11° W. These two 
systems of trends appear well developed, and give rise to transverse ridges, which, by their 
intersection, enclose a series of quadrangular valleys or basins. There are several of these 
enclosed spaces between Vallecito and the dividing ridge near Warner’s ; and they give a pecu¬ 
liar character to the slope of the chain of mountains, breaking the ascent by a series of level 
spaces, separated by short but precipitous ridges. Thus, instead of a continuous gradual ascent 
through a long, narrow canon or ravine, you pass in succession from one nearly level plain, 
enclosed by ridges, abruptly upwards to the level of another similar one, and so on, by a series 
of stair-like elevations, to the summit. 
These enclosed spaces are generally nearly filled by accumulations of drift, and fine debris of 
granite, derived in part from the weathering of the surrounding ridges. This filling-in 
of a basin is generally so complete that the surface of the plain is often as high as the crest of 
