OCR Text |
Show IN CALIFORNIA. 303 fornia; and, in the midst of the summer, when the vegetation is parched by the broiling sun, they often burn furiously during many days, only subsiding when they have exhausted all aliment. We passed the fire, and soon reached the Stanislaus river, which takes its rise near the Californian range of mountains, and discharges itself into the San J oachin, than which it is not less beautifully wooded, nor its banks less picturesque. We were on its north side, and anxiously looked about us for some means of conveying ourselves, our waggons, and our cattle acroRs. This proved no easy matter ; and we travelled tnany wearisome n1iles, without any regular road, and where the briars and bushes offered innumerable obstructions to the progress of the waggons and mules, adding to the natural difficulties of the ground, which was very uneven, and bestrewed with broken lin1 bs of trees. Halliday had req nested me to take charge of his horse, whilst he assisted Don Emanuel |