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Show ] 28 PERSONAL ADVENTURES return, myself and one or two others followed them down the declivities on the road-side, turning in and out of the rocks, until we reached a small valley, completely sheltered from cursory observation, where the live stock ,vas grazing off a patch of meagre herhage, which, from its being, with the exception of a few trees, almost the only bit of green we could see-for we were now surrounded by barren hills- was <Iuite refreshing to the wearied eye. From the fissures of the rocks there flo,ved, with a gentle ripple, a thin, limpid stream, which, falling into a hollow at the end of this little valley, there formed a small pond where the cattle could slake their thirst. It was, most probably, in consequence of there heinz here a few scanty patches of herbage and a supply of water convenient, that the people to whom the 'ranclte belonged had heen induced to settle here; for none but those who have travelled through this wilderness of a region can appreciate the value of a little grass to sustain a few animals, and of a rill of water to irriO'ate a kitchen-o·arden. 0 0 MOUNTAIN SCENERY-LOWER CALIFOBNIA. |