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Show 318 PERSONAL ADVENTURES The northern part, or " Great Basin," is elevated sorne four or five thousand feet above the level of the sea, having a succession of isolated 1nountain ranges, some of which rise to the height of six or seven thousand feet above the plains, their general outline being sharp and rugged. The mountains run north and south; the streams \vhich flow within the basin run east and west, emptying into the lakes, or losing then1selves in sandy plains. The small rivulets that have their sources in the mountains, which are capped with snow, afford water and some grass, for the most part of the year, but their running waters rarely extend beyond the alluvial deposits at the bases. The plains of the Great Basin are represented as appalling and unearthly in their appearance, not only to the traveller, but to all the brute creation, who rarely venture upon thern. Mr. Bryant, who crossed the Great Salt Plain, describes it as having "a snow-like surface, and it is so cotnpact and hard on its eastern border as to show but little impression IN CALIFORNIA. 319 from the feet of animals passing over it. This snow-white substance is an encrustation of saline and alkaline bodies, combined in thickness from one fourth to half an inch, beneath which is a stratum of damp, whitish sand and clay, intermingled; small fragments of white, shelly rock are strewn over the entire plain, and imbedded in the salt and sand. To the \Vest, the soil of the plain becomes softer-a composition of clay, sand, and salt, in which the mules are represented as sinking to their knees; and at times the travelling becomes so difficult and fatiguing to the animals as almost to prevent their advancing. It is about 40 miles in breadth, and 150 miles in length." Within the area of this basin lie the Timponogos, or Great Salt and the Yutah Lakes, which stretch off to the east, and on the west are situated the Pyramid, Walker, and Carson Lakes, with a number of smaller ones. The Great Salt Lake is said to be about 70 1niles in length, ·and 40 to 60 miles in \vidth. Its surface is dotted with numerous islands, and there are several large bays on its |