328 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
more for his boots, and loses the difference, because he can obtain 
his gold with no less labour than in 1860. He cannot water his 
gold, as the government do the currency. 
The topography of the state was explained by a map on which 
five equidistant parallel lines were drawn, having a direction N. 
31° W. across the map, and 55 miles apart, the middle line drawn 
along the western base of the Sierra Nevada, from Visalia to Red 
Bluff. The first parallel east of this passes through or very near 
the highest points of the Sierra Nevada; the next parallel line 
east of this crosses a series of depressions oceupied by lakes and 
deserts full of geological interest, including the celebrated Pyramid, 
Walker, Owens, and Mono Lakes, and Death Valley, the last 100 
feet below the level of the sea. The first line west of the central one 
follows closely the eastern base of the coast range from near Kern 
Lake northward for 3800 miles; the second line west, and last 
parallel line, represents very nearly the coast line of the Pacific, 
or the western base of the coast ranges. 
These lines divide the state into four belts, which preserve their 
main physical features over about five degrees of latitude, and for 
a distance of 400 miles, which embrace the whole of the agricul- 
tural, and by far the most of the mineral districts. These belts 
were designated, naming them from the east to the west, the 
eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, the great Californian Valley, 
and the coast ranges. 
Two lines were drawn at right angles to those just mentioned, 
giving divisions of southern, central, and northern. 
The coast ranges, so called from their proximity to the coast, 
form when seen from the sea an almost unbroken wall rising 
directly from the water, consisting of a number of chains or 
ranges, known under separate local names. They are generally 
mueh inferior in height to the Sierra Nevada, although culminating 
points rise to a height of 8,000 feet. 
These chains or ranges, cach nearly distinct, are all connected, 
with the exception of the peaks which form the outlet of the great 
central valley at the Straits of Carquinas and the entrances to San 
Francisco Bay. Both north and south of this each separate chain, 
after being separated from its neighbour by a valley, joins some 
other chain lying nearly parallel, the whole system joining topo- 
graphically with the Sierra Nevada at either end. 
Geologically, the coast ranges are not known to contain any 
