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Show j • [ 148] 40 delightful. The days were hot, at evening cool, and 'the morning weather clear and exhilirating. Descending· into the valley, we found it open and handsome, making a pleasing country, well wooded, and everywhere covered with grass of a good quality. The coast range is wooded on both sides and to the summit with varieties of oaks and pines. The upper part of the· Salinas valley, where we are now travelling, would afford excellent stock farms,. and is particularly well suited to sheep . . The country never becomes miry in the rainy season, and none are lost by cold in the mild winter. The good range, grass and acorns, made game a bun dan t, and deer and grisly bear were numerous. Twelve of 'the latter were killed by the party in one, thicket. Lower down; in the neighborhood of San Miguel, the country changed its appearance, losing its tim be red and grassy character, and showing much sand. The past year had been one of unusual drought, and the river had almost entirely disappeared, leaving a bare sandy bed with a . few pools of water. About fifteen miles below San Miguel it enters a gorge of the hills, making broad thickly wooded bottoms, and affording good range and abundance of water, the bed being sheltered by the thick timber. The lower hills and spurs from the ranges, bordering the fiver, are very dry and bare, affording little or no grass. Approaching the mission . of Soledad the river valley widens, making fertile bottoms and plains of arable land, some fifteen to twenty miles broad, extending to Monterey bay, and bordered by ranges of mountain from two to three thousand feet high. These ranges llave the character of fertile mountains, their hills being covered with grass and scattered trees, and their valJies producing fields of wild oats, and wooded with oak groves. Being unsheltered by woods, water is not abundant in the dry season, but at the end of September we found springs among the hills, and water remained in the creek beds. On the evening of the 25th September, oumuli made their. appearance in the sky, and the next morning was clouc~y with a warrn southerly 'Yind and a few drops of rain-the fi!st of the rainy season. Tlie w.eather t~en cont_inued uninterruptedly dry through all October-fau and bngh~ dunng the first part, but cloudy during the latter ~al_£. At the end of the month the rainy season sat in fully, ~ons1sting gene.rally of rain squalls with bright weather intervenmg, and o.ccaswnaJ southeasterly storms contir.uiqg several days. The previous seasons had been very short and light for several years, and the country had suffered from the consequent drongbt. The present season commenced early, and was very favorable. Much rain fell in the low country, and snow accumulated to a great depth in the high mountains. The first rains changed the face of the country. Grass immediately began to shoot up rapidly, and by the end of the first week of November the dead hue of .the hills around Monterey had already given place to green. A b~1e.f sketch of the weather during a journey in this year from the mission of San Juan Bauptista (latitude 37°) to los Angeles will exhibit the ordinary character of the season. • 41 ( 148 ] . In the valley of San Juan, during the latter half of November, there was no rain; the weather, generally, pleasant and bright, with occasional clouds. The night clear and cool, occasionally cold; the mornings clear and sharp, with boar frost sometimes coveringthe ground. The days were warm and pleasant, and the evenings mild and calm. On some mornings a thick fog settled down immediately after sunrise, but in ,a few hours cleared off into a pleas-ant day. , The falling weather recommenced on the 30th, with a ~tormy day of spring; blue sky in spots, rapidly succeeded by masses of dark clouds and pouring rain, which fell heavily during greater part of the night. The morning of t,he 1st December was partially clear, but rain recommenced in a few· hours, with sky entirely clouded. ~he weather brightened at noon, and from a high point of the hills bo·r~ dering the St. Juan river valley, up which we were travelling, snow was visible on summits of the dividing range betwef'n the· San Joaquin valley and the coast. It rained heavily and incessantly during the night, and continued all the next day. In the night the sky cleared off bright with a north wind, but clouded up at morning, with rain and a broken sky. There were showers of rain during the day, with intervals o( bright and hot sun; and the sky at sunset was without a cloud. During the day and night of ·the 4th, there were occasional showers. Tte sky was tolerably clear on the morning ~f the 5th, with a prospect of fair weather. The tents were frozen, and snow appeared on the n~ar ridges. W ~ were then in a small interior valley of the mountains; bordering the Salinas river, and about 1,000 feet above the sea. December the 6th was a beautiful day, followed by a cold frosty night. The next day we descended to the valley of the Salinas river,. the weathe~ continuing clear and pleasant during the day. Snow app ared on the mountains on both sides of the valley, a.nd a cloud from some of them gave a slight shower during the night. · Several successive days were clear, with hot sun; the nights cold) starry, and frosty. The new grass on the hills was coming out vigorously. The morning of the lOth was keen and .clear, with scattered clouds, and a. southerly wind, which brought up showers of rain at night, followed by fog in ~he morning. On the 12th, at the mission of Santa Margarita, in the head of the Salinas valley, rain began in the afternoon, with a cold wind, and soon increased to a southeasterly storm, with heavy rain during ' all the night. The 13th was cloudy, with occasional. showers. During the night th,e weather became very bad, and by. morning had increased to a vio~ent and cold southeasterly rain storm. In the afternoon the storm subsided, and was followed by several days of variable weather. . ~ By the 19th; the country where we were travelling between San Luis Obispo and the Cuesta of Santa Ines, showed a: handsome covering of grass, which required two weeks more to become ex·. •. |
