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Show [ 174 ] 23 .Another br:H1ch, which we had follow·cJ, here comes in on the left; and from this poinl the mountain wall, on which we had travelled to-rlay,face to the south along the 1 ight bank of .the !·i \'Cr? whe!·e the sun appears to have melted the snow; but the oppotH le ndge IS entrrely covered. Here amon~ the pine , tile hill side produces but little grass-barely suflicient to keep lile in the animals. \Ve had the pleasure to be rained upon this afternoon; and ~rass was now our ~reatcst solicitude. .Many of the men looked badly; and some this eveninp; were giving out. Febrtull'y ~4.-We rose at thr<~c in the morning, for an astrouomicalobservation, and outained for rhe place a latitude of 38° 46' 58"; longitude 120\J 31' ZO". The sky wa clear and pure, with a sharp wiuLI from the northe ast. and the thennometer ~o below the freezing point. \V e continued down the south face of the mountain ; our road leading over dry tTround, we were able to a\·oid the snow almo~t entirely. In the course of the morning, we struck a foot path, wltich we were generally able to l< et·p; and the ground was soft to our animals' feet, be in~ sandy or cover· ed with mould. G n'CII grass began to make its appearance, and occasion· ally we passed a hill scatteringly covered with it. 'l'he character of the fo1 est continued tile same; and, amon•" the trees, the pine with sharp lea\' ~-; and very larp;e cones was abundant, some of them being noble trees. Vvc mea ured one that had 10 feet di ameter, though the height was not more than 130 feet. All alon~, the river was a roaring torrent, its fall very ~re::tt; and, descending with a rapidity to which we had Jon()' been strangers, to our great plea. ure oak trees appeared on the ridge, and soon bec:tme v ry frequent; on these I remarked unusually great quantities of mistletoe. nu.shes be~,tn to make their appearance; and at a small creek whrre the.'f were abundant, one of the mes"es was left with the weakest hor -e~, w I ile we continued 011. The. opposite mountain side w:-~s vet·y steep and continuous-unbroken by ravmes, and covered with pines and snow· while on the side we were travelling, innumerable rivulets pouretl down' from the ridcrr. Continuing on, we hJlted a moment <:tt one of these rivulets , to admir~ some beautiful ever~reen tre~ '.' resembling live oak, which sh~ded the little stream. They were forty to frlty feet high, and two in dian1etcr, with a uniform tufted top; and the sttrnmer green of their hcautiful f'oliHge, with the sinrring birds, and the swC'et summer wind which was whir1inrr about the dry oak leaves, nrarly intoxicated ~s with dclip.ht; and we J~rrried on, fdled with excite· ment, to escape ent11·ely from the lwrriJ re()'ion of inhospitable snow, to the perpetual spring of the Sacramento. 0 \.Yhen '.vc had travelled about ten miles, the valJey opened a little to .an oak and ptne ~)Otfom, through which ran rivulets closely bordered wit~ l'U!:ihes, on whiCh our half.starved hor ·es fell with avidity; and here we n~ade our encampment. Ucre the roarincr torrent has already become a nvcr, ancl we had descended to an elevation of 3,8{H feet. A l?ng our road to-day the roek was a white granite, which appears to constitute the upper part of the mountains on both the eastern and western slopes; while between, the central is a volcanic rock. Another horse was killed to-nit"l'ht f<'r footl. ~'ebnt~r:I.J 25.-llelieving that the 't~iffieulties of the road were passe~, and le:.vt~g Mr. li'itzpalrick to follow slowly, as the conuition of the a.ni· ?1 ;l 1-s r~quired, I started ahP.ad this morning with a party of eight, con 15t. tog ( wnh myself) of Mr. l)reuss and Mr. Talbot, Carson, Derosier, Towns, .. 239 [ 174 ] Proue and .Jacob. \V c took with us some of the be .. t ani:nals, ::tnd my intentio~ was to proceed as rapidly as po ·siblc to the house of 1\tfr. Sutter, and return to lllCCt the party with a supply of provisions and fresh animals. Continuing Jown the river, which pursued a very direct westerly course throuO'h a nuiTOW valley, with only a very slight and narrow bottom land, we m~de twelve miles, and enc:amped at some old Indian huts, ~pparently n fishing place on the r ivcr. The bottom was covered with trees of deciduous- foliage, and overgrown with vines and rushes. On a bench of the hill near hy, W<tS a field of fresh grec11 grass, six inches I on~ in so tHe of the tufts \\hich l had the curiosity to measure. The animals were driven here; and 1 . pent part of the afternoon sitting on a large rock among them, enjoying the pauseless 1apidity with which tlwy luxuriated in the unaccustomed food. The forest was impo in~ to-day in the ma~nificence of the trePs: some of the pines, bearing large cones, were 10 feet in diameter; cedars also abounded, and we measured one 28~ feet in circurnferentc four feet from the ground. This noble tree seemed here to be in its proper soil and climate. \V e found it on both siues of the SiC'rra, but most abundatlt on the I west. Febrtwry 2G.-'N e continued to follow the stream, the mountains on either hand increasing in height as we clcscellded, and shutti1w up the river narrowly in precipices, along whi<'b we had gr at difficulty to get our horses. It rained heavily during the afternoon, and we \\'('re forced olf the river to the hei~hts above; whence we descend eLl, :1t night-fall, the point of a spur between the river and a fork of nearly equal siz(', com in~ in from the nght. Here we saw, on the lo\>vcr hills, the Jirst llowcr in bloom, which o~c.l:nc<l suddenly, and in consiucrablc quantity; one of them a species of gtlw. . The current in both streams (rather torrents than rivers) was broken by hr~c boulders. It was lt~.te, and the animals fatigued ; and not succeeding to fintl.a ford immeuiately, we encarnp('d, althou~h the hill £ide afforded bu.t a lew stray buucbes of grass, and the hor es, standincr about in the ram, looked very miserable. ~~brttary '27 .-\tV e succeeded in fording; the streaft1, and made a trail by wluch we crossed the point of the opposite hill, which, on the southern exposure, was prettily covered with green grass, and we halted a mile from out· last encampment. The river wal:i only about sixty fet't wide but rapid, afd occasion:-~lly deep, foaming amono· boulders and the water 'beautifully \ear. v~c e~camped on the hill slorfe, as thcr~ was no bottom JcveJ, and t ~ opposrte ~·tdge is continuous, afl'ording no streams. Ve had Wtth us a large kettle· and a mule beincr killed here, his head was boiled in it for several honr ' and made a pass~ble soup for famished people. ' Below, precipices on the river forced u~ to the heicrhts, which we as~ endcu by a steep spur 2,000 feet J1igh. My favorite h~rse, Proveau, bad efl~ome very weak, and'' as scarcely able to bring himself to the top. Trav-steten g hae rde f wns g... ,o o. d ' exceJ>t in c·· ro•s sirw the np·ines which were n.:nrow b • .,. , ' had p, 'n r('qU(•nt. W c cau~ht a glimpse of a deer, the first animal we k' een; but did not Sttcceed in approaching him. Proveau could not ,,~~~ t~p, and 1 left .Jacob to briug him on, being oblit;cd to (H'('SS for.ward as th ~e party, as there was no gruss in the fore ct. 'V c grew vC'ry anxious c ay advanced and no grass appeared, for the lives of our animals |