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Show [ 148] ; face of the hil1s presents sunny ex.posures, shelt~red from. the winds, and having a hicrhly favorable climate and suitable sod, are considered to be w~ll adapted to the cultivat~on of t~e grape, a.nd w.ill probably become the principal vine growing reg1on of California. The up lands bordering the valleys of t~e large .streams. are usu~lly ,vooded with evergreen oaks, and the Intervening .plains are timbered with groves or belts of evergreen and white ?aks among prajrie and open land. The surface of the ~all~y consists .of l~vel plains along the Tulare lakes and San Joaqu1n n.ver, changing Into undulating and rolling ground nearer the foot hills of the Inountains. A condensed notice from observations, made during several journeys through the valley, will serve to give ~ome definite ideas of its climate and character. We left the upper settlements of New Helvetia o~ the 14th December, and, passing through the groves of .oak whtch border th.e Rio de los Americanos, directed our course In a southeasterly direction across a plain toward the Rio de los Cos-um-nes, a handsome, well 'vooded stream, about thirty yards wide. The Cosum- ne Indians, who give name to this river, have been d~iven away from it within a few years, and di~persed among other tnbes; and several farms, of some leagues in extent, have already been established on the lower part of the stream. We en cam peel at one of these, about eight miles above the junction of the Cos-um-ne river with the 1\rlo-kel-um-ne, which a few miles below enters a deep slough in the tide water of the San Joaquin delta. At this place the temperature at sunset was 55°, and at sunrise 27°. Our road on the 15th was over the plain between the Cps- urn ·ne ... and Mo-kel-um-ne rivers, inclining toward the m'Ountains. We crossed several wooded sloughs, with ponds of deep water, which, nearer the foot hi1ls, are running streams, -with large bottoms of fertile l.and; the greater part of our way being through op>en woods of evergreen and other oaks. The rainy season, \Vhich commonly begins with November, had not yet commenced, and the Mo-kelum ne river was at the low stage usual to the dry season, and easily forded. This stream is about sixty yards wide, and the immediate valley some thirty or forty feet below the upland plain. It has broad alluvial bottoms of very fertile soil-sometimes five hundred yards wide, bounded by a low upland, wooded with evergreen oaks. The weather in the evening was calm, the sky mottled with clouds, .and the temperature at sunset 52°. Leaving the Mo-kel-um-ne, (Decerp.b'er 16,) we travelled about twenty miles through open woods of white oak, crossing in the vvay several stream beds-atnong them the Calaveras creek. These have abundant \\·ater, witb goo J Ian d above; and the Calaveras makes some rt·Inarkably handsome bottoms. Issuing from the woods, we rode about sixteen miles over an open prairie, partly covered with bunch grass, tbe timber reappearing on the rollinghills of the river Stanislaus in the usual belt of E_!Vergreen oaks. The river valley was about forty feet below· the upland, and the stream seventy . . \ • 17 • yards broa.d, making the usual fertile bottoms, which here .were· covered With green. grass arnong large oaks. We encamped in one of th.ese bottoms, In a grove of the large white ~aks previously mentioned,. as quercu~ ~ongiglan~a_ (Torr. and Frem.) This oak is a new species, be!onging to th_e.dtvi.sion of white oaks, distinguished by the len.gth of Its. acorn, wh1?h Is commonly an inch and a half, an~ sometimes tw~ Inches. Th1s long acorn characterizes the tree, whic.h has accordingly been specified by Dr. Torrey as quercus long~gl~nda-(long-acor? oak.*) !he tree attai~s frequently a diame· ter 6f s1x feet, and a height of eighty feet, wtth a wide spreading hea~. .The many varieties of deciduous and evergreen oaks, which pr.euom1nate throughout the valleys and lower hills of the mount~ Ins, afford large quantities of aco.rns, which constitute the prin~ Ipal foo.d of t~e Indians of that region. Their great abundance, ' 1n the m~dst of fin.e pa~ture lands, must make them an important element In the agncultural economy of the country. · The day had been very warm, and at sunset the temperature was 55°, and the weather clear and calm. , . At s~nrise next m?rning, the thermometer was at 22°, with a hgpt w1nd. frorn the S1erra, N. 75° E., and a clear pure sky in which the blue ·hne of the mountain showed distinctly. Th~ way, for about t~ree miles, wa8 thr~ugh open woods of evergreen and otlier oaks, With,~ome s~rubbery Intermingled. Among this was a lupinus of extraordina.ry Size, not yet in bloom. Emerging from the woods .. we travelled In a south'easterly direction, over a prairie of rollin~ land, the ground becoming somewhat more broken as we approached the To·wal-ufn-ne river, one of the finest tributaries of the San ! oaquin. The hills were generally covered with a species of geranium, ( erodium. cicutarium,) a valuable plant for stock considered ve:y nutriti~us. With this was frequently interspersed' good an~ green bun.ch grass, and a plant commonly called bur clover. Th.Is plant, wh1ch in .some places ~s very a~undant, bears a .spirally twisted pod, filled With seeds, which rema1ns on the ground during the. dry season, well preserved, and affords good food for cattle u~til the spring rains bring out new grass. We started a band of Wil~ hor$es on approaching the river, and the Indians ran olf from a village .on the bank-the men lurking round to observe us. About then huts were th·e usual acorn cribs, containing each some twenty or thirty ~ushels. We found here excellent grass, and broad bottoms of alluvial land, open-wooded, with lar<Ye ·white oaks of the new species. The thermometer, at sunset, :as at 54°.5, with a calrrl, cle~r atmo~phere. Multitudes of geese and other wild fowl made the night no1sy~ In the morning, the sky· was clear, with an air from S. 55 E. and ~hoar frost covering the grou~d like a light fall of snow. At sunnse, the thermometer was at 24°.5. Our course now inclined more towards tlie foot of the mountain, and led over a broken country. In about 17 miles we reached the river Aux-um-ne, an- • The name~ of plan_ts mentioned in this memoir rest on the authority of Dr; Torrey by: whom the specunens have been examined. 1 • 2 ' I |