1 
VARIETIES.  179 
yourself  going  up  the  Sacramento  river,  and,  as  your  state-room  is  insuf- 
ferably hot,  you  put  on  the  thinnest  summer  clothing,  and  go  out  on  the 
guards  of  the  boat,  oppressed  with  the  heat,  and  the  perspiration  starting 
from  your  pores. 
There  seems  to  be  some  doubt  whether  the  great  difference  between  the 
climate  of  the  coast  and  that  of  the  interior,  is  to  be  wholly  attributed  to 
the  Coast  Range.  From  Benicia  this  range  trends  inland,  leaving  quite 
a  broad  tract  between  it  and  the  sea.  On  the  east  side  of  the  bay  of  San 
Francisco,  between  the  bay  and  the  mountains,  is  a  tract  of  level  land,  five 
to  ten  miles  in  width,  of  great  fertility  and  which,  in  the  month  of  May,  is 
almost  one  unbroken  field  of  waving  grain.  This  plain  is  swept  every 
afternoon  in  summer  by  the  sea-breeze,  and  there  is  no  doubt  the  breeze 
here  is  less  violent  and  less  cold  than  it  is  in  San  Francisco,  though  noth- 
ing intervenes  but  a  smooth  sheet  of  water. 
This  plain  may  be  considered  a  portion  of  the  valley  of  San  Jose,  which 
extends  southerly  from  the  neighborhood  of  San  Francisco,  some  70  or  80 
miles,  between  the  broken  hills  of  the  coast  and  the  main  ridge  of  the 
Coast  Range.  The  valley,  as  well  as  others  similarly  situated,  among  the 
straggling  ridges  of  the  Coast  Range,  such  as  Nappa,  Santa  Cruz,  San 
Pablo,  &c,  enjoys  the  most  delightful  climate  in  the  world.  The  fierce 
gale  which  drives  through  the  streets  of  San  Francisco,  is  here  tempered 
into  a  bland  and  bracing  breeze.  The  malaria,  so  prevalent  in  the  great 
valley  of  the  interior,  is  here  unknown.  The  husbandman  reaps  the  abun- 
dant harvests  of  the  fertile  soil  in  health  and  comfort.  For  two  months 
he  reaps,  leaving  the  grain  in  the  fields,  and  for  two  months  more  he 
threshes  and  winnows,  allowing  the  bags  of  grain  to  stand  where  they  are 
filled,  without  the  slightest  apprehension  of  a  shower.  No  thunder  ever 
disturbs  the  serenity  of  the  sky.  These  delicious  valleys  are  indeed  the 
Edens  of  the  west. 
Besides  these  three  climates  in  California,  that  of  the  coast,  that  of  the 
interior,  and  that  of  the  small  valleys  which  lie  among  the  scattered 
branches  of  the  Coast  Range,  there  is  yet  a  fourth,  the  climate  of  the 
mountains.  But  this,  with  the  exception  of  its  dry  seasons,  has  merely 
the  characteristics  of  other  mountain  climates,  the  heat  decreasing  with  the 
altitude. 
These  are  the  summer  climates.  In  the  winter  there  is  no  perceptible 
difference  in  the  weather  throughout  California,  except  the  very  small  dif- 
ference caused  by  the  latitude,  and  the  very  great  difference  caused  by  the 
altitude.  In  the  lowlands  the  climate  is  very  similar  to  April  in  New 
England,  or  perhaps  it  may  be  more  nearly  compared  to  our  spring,  from 
the  middle  of  March  to  the  middle  of  May.  There  is  no  snow,  though 
frosts  are  frequent.  Near  San  Francisco,  peas  are  planted  in  October,  and 
strawberries  are  to  be  had  every  day  in  the  year.  Still,  ice  has  been 
known  to  form  half  an  inch  thick  in  one  night.  On  the  mountains,  snow 
falls  to  a  great  depth.    Indeed,  the  stories  which  are  told  of  its  depth 
