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Show [ 174 J 254 AJ)ril 13.-The water was .low, and a few m~lcs ~hove we forded the 1-ivcr at a r:lpid, alld marched 10 a southeasterly dtrcctwn over a less broken country. The mountains were now very ncar, orc.,sionally looming out through fog. ] n a few hours we reached . the bott~>m of a creek without ·water, ov 1 which the sandy. hcds '~ r c <hspers~d 111 many branches. lm. mediately where we strucl~ It, the timber te rrr.uu~~cd; and below, to the JritTht it was a broad bed of dry and bare sands. I here were many tracks ol'Jndians and horses imprinted in the sand, which, with other indications 1nforrncd us was the creek is ·uing from the pa. '·and whicl~ on the map we ha\' callrd Pass creek. \V e asccHded a tr:Hl lor a few mtles alonO' the cr~ek and suddenly found a stream of water five feet wide, tlltlllinp; ~vith a }i\'ely run ent, hut losi11g i.t e lf :tlmost imm c:di~ttely. Thi~ little t;lrcam . howed plainly the manner 111 '' luch the mountalll \\at r lo~e themselves in sand at the eastern foot of the Sierra, leaving only a parched desert and :1rid plain<:, hC'}ond. The stteam nlarg<'d rapidly, and the timber became b1111dant a~ wt' a cended. A new sp cic .. of pine made its appearance lvith seve1 al kinds of oak·, and a variety of trees; and the c·ountry chang~ ing it ~ appearaJHe sudd c. uly ~.1nd entirely, we found ourE~clvrs ng~in tra\'Cl· ling amon~ the old orchard-ltke places. llere \\ c srlectcd a delrghtful en· c .. unpment in a hand ~ omc p;reen oak h?llow, where, ar~wn~ the open boll of the trc('S, Wa'> an abundant sw.u·d of grass and pc .t "tn('::.,. In the even· ing a Christian Indian rode into the camp, \\ell dret."iecl, \\ ith long spurs, and .1 sornbn•ro, and speakin~ 8par.i5h fluently. Jt \\as an uneApectcd ap· par itiun, and. a ~tt tlllgc. and. pleasant sig,l~! in ~bi8 de1:1olate p;or p,e of a u.JOun· tain- an Indran fa('(', Spalll5h c•ostume, ,Jtnglmg f,pUr~, <1nd horse qu rpped after the Sp·1ni:;h manner. I I e illf{>nuf'd me that he belonged to ouc of the Sp.1nish missions tot 1e south, distant two or thre<.' da)s' ride, and that he had obtained from tlw priests leave to spend a few· da) s with his relatious :in the Siena. J la ving ~een u~ C'nter the pass, he had come down to visit us. I Je appeared familiarly actluainted with the c·uuntry, and gave me definite and clear information in rc~ard to the de!:'crt rP~ion ta!it of the mountaius. I had entered the pass with a !-tron; di~;po~ r tion to vary my !'OUI ·, and to trave:l din'ctl) acro!'ls toward· the Gn•at Salt lake, in the vi<'W of obtaining I'Oill(' .H qu.tintanC'e "ith the interior or tlw Great Ba in, while pun~uing a direct t·our se for the frontier; but hi r('{>l'l'sc·ntalion, whiC'h de· f:crioed it as an arid and barren d()Sc rt, that had rq>td~c'd by its sterility all the attemp ts of the Indian to penctJate it, dctcrrnirwd llle f01 the present to IeliJlquish th<• plan; and, ag reeably to hi,: advic<', after ctossing ~he Sien:1, <.·nnttnuc (Jlll' ill tPndcd route along it ~ c~ tcr11 ba~-e to the Spant8h trail. By this route, a party of :--ix Indians, v.ho J1ad cowr from a g~cat river in the lastt•r n part of the desert to t1 :Hlc '' ith his people, had JUS! started on their return. lie would himself, ·tutn tbe H<·xt day to San Fernando; and as onr ro ds would be the same fnr l\\O days, he ofi'ered his ~crviee : to conduct us tJO far on our\\ ay. ll i::; <llt',·t \Lt~ gladly accepted. The fog, which had some\\ hat interfered \\ ith ,·ir '' s in the vallt'y, hade~· tir ely ~-~ssed ofJ, and left a cle:.tr ,.,ky. That whi<·h had enveloped us tn the u<.·rghborhood of the pass proceeded evidelltly from lire~ kindled among fthc tubre.'i by Indian . living IH'<H the lakes, and wllit"h WC'r(' intended to warn thotle in the mountajns that there were stmn<rc•rs in tlw vallry. Our jpositio~ · was in latitude 35n 17, 1211 , aud !ongi tnd et~IIS' 35 03~~. . . . .llpnll4.-. Our guide joined us tbifi morui[lg ou the trt~il; and, an.l\'10~ l!n a ~wrt tltstance at an open bottom where the creek forked, we coutwue 255 [ 174 ] up the right-hand branch, .which was enriched uy a profusion of flowers and handsomely \\-Ooded With sycamore, oaks, ~ottonwoocJ, and willow, with other t rees~ and some shrubby plan.ts. In Its long strings of ball , this sycamore c! dfers from that of the. U ntted tates, and is the platanns occidentalis o.f [Jooker-a n~w sp?cJCs, recently described among the plants collected tn th.e voynge ol ~he Sulphur. The cottonwood varied its folia(l'e with whi te tufts? and the fea_thcry eeds were flying plentifully throu<rh tftc air. GooschC'rnes, nenrly npc, were vrry abundant on the mouutainb· and as w~ passe<~ the di.vidin:; ~rounds~ which were 11ot .very c·nsy to a~cer~t ain, the atr was iJl~cd wrth per iume, as 1f we were entenn~ a highly culti,·atcd garden; ar~d, Jn. tead ?f p;recn, our patln~ay and the mountain sid(ls Wl')re covered wtth fields ol yellow flow<'rs, whrch here '' a the preva ilin ,r color. Our jonrney to-day was in th . midst of an advanced spring, whos; grc·en ?nd floral beauty offered a de hgh.tful. contrast to the :,andy valley \Ve had JU t left. A II the day, snow \\a~ rn srght on the bu t1 of the Ill Oil n tai 11 , which frowned down UJ!on us on the n~ht; hut "' c beheld it 11ow with fpeJing'i of pleasant sccunty, as we rode nlong between grern tn'es and on now<'rs l\ith llll mming. bird~ and other feathered fr icnds of the tr;tvcll<'r erdivening the se r ()~e spnn~ a•r.. As we reached the umrnit of this bc>autiful pass, and obt.•tnC'd a v1ew mto the ea tern country, we aw at once that hrre was the plaec to take leave of all su<'h plrasant scenes as those amund us. The distaut mountains \\ ere now bald rocks again; and below, the lat.d had any color but ~reen. Takin~ into consideratron the nature of the Sierra NPvada, we found this pass an excellent on for horsC's ; and with a litt le labor, or perh.lps with a more pC'rfect exatuination of the lot·itlities it. might be made su.fficiently pra~ticable for wagons. Its latitude and I on·' g~tude ma.Y, he consH~cred that oi our l;ast encampment, only a f<•w milrs dtstant. J he clcvatron wa not taken-our half-wi ld <'av;deade making it too troublesome to halt before night, \\hen once started. We here left the waters of the bay of an Franci~H·o, nnd, thoup;h forced upon .tbem contrary to my intentions, I cannot regn·t thr nE'<'e ... siry which occasion.cd th~ deviation. It made m<' well acquainted witlr the ~~ea t range ol the .. 1crra Nevada of the Alta California, and &howed that this broad and elevated snowy ridp;e was a continuation of thr C.1 ('ade H.1nge of Oregon, hctween \\ hich and the ocean there is still anothrr and a lowc·r range, parallel to the former and to the coast, and whit·h rn .ly be C'all£•d the Coast .H.~n~e. It also made me well a<'quainteu with th(• ba~in o( the San Francts('o bay, and with the two pretty rivers and their vt~li<'y., (the Sarrt.ltnento at.ICI San Joaquin,) whrch are tributary to that l>ay; and c·leared up some points iu geography on which error had iong P' rvail<><l. It had he en c?nstantly rcpre entcd, as I have already stated, that {be hay of ~an FranCisco opened far into the interior, hy some river comin~ down from the base .ol the Rocky mountains, and upon which suppo:-cd stn•am the n.une of lho Buena ventura had been bestowed. Our obs<•n·ations of tile Sierra Nevada, in the long distan<'e from the head of the ~hcra nwn to to the heau o( Lhe S~an Jonquin, and of the vallry brlow it, whirh collects all the waters of th~ San Francisco bay, show that this neither is nor (·an be the case. No rtve1 from the interior docs, or can, cross the Sirna N<~vada-itsclf more lofty than the Rocky mountc.sins · and as to the Buenclvc•ntura the mouth o.f wI l i·e h ~ccn on the coast gave th' e idea and the name of the l'l'' fJUted ~>Tc·at !'IVe · 't . · n s· 1 .' I ·~, Ill fact' a small stream of no, consequence. no.t or~ I y l_>elo \~ t~e ten a Nev:tda, but actually below the Coast Range-taktng tts nse wttlun |