Chap. VII. SAN FELIPE. 541 
sists partly of grass, partly of mimbre and other bushes of 
the Rio Grande districts reappearing in this region. Here 
we saw the first Californian settlement, a single house, which 
was, of course, a shop : provisions, ready-made clothes, 
and other requirements for passing travellers were sold at 
incredibly high prices. The stock of our provisions was 
unfortunately so low, that I was obliged to make large 
and dear purchases for the part of our caravan entrusted 
to me. I conversed here with a sick man, who, a few 
weeks before, having lost his way in the desert of the Co- 
lorado, had been plundered by some Yuma Indians of all 
he possessed, and had passed several days, naked and with- 
out food, until he met some travellers, who took care of 
him. He was very weak, and had a sore, nearly three 
inches across and half an inch deep, in his back. 
Our road now led us through a succession of settle- 
ments. First came San Felipe, a group of houses or huts, 
inhabited by civilized Indians. The road from Vallecito 
to this place passes tbrough a defile, with the worst road 
on the whole extent from the Guadalupe Pass down to 
Lower California. In several places the cleft was so nar- 
row that the wheels grazed the rocks on either side. The 
flora of this wild mountain spot was very peculiar : a 
small agave, with yellow flowers and a sweet smell, a deli- 
cate opuntia, a juniper with red berries, and various 
labiatse, with a strong scent of camphor, attracted my no- 
tice. This scent in some places quite filled the air. I had 
before remarked on the Gila various herbs with a strong 
smell of camphor. 
We spent the night in the valley, our animals finding the 
necessary food, and the following morning, over a pass, 
— called Warner's Pass by the North Americans, and 
Puerto de San Felipe by the Mexicans, — we reached 
