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Show 86 EASTERN CALIFORNIA. which have been made of the countries vVest of the Rocky Moun-t am· s, "the unexplored recb rion." It was left a perfec.t bl• ank; and it is strange, that in this very acknowldgrnent of thetr Ignorance the map-makers have described, so acurately, what. succeedmg explorations have proved, to be a perfect blank. ~t Js. reasonable. to suppose, that the All · Wise '.h as arra. nrbr ed. every thmg ll1 nature. , w1t•h perfect fitness; thnt there ts nothmg, lll the great .glo~e, whJCh Is not perfectly adapted to some proper purpos~; whtch 1s ~ot a necessary part, in this vast, harmonious mach me. -the U m ve~·se ~f God. But, as fur as the eye of man, though a1ded by all hts pht· losophy, has yet been able to see; the half of all is unaccountab~e. So is this seeming waste. It appears to have been thrown m, merely to fill up space; or, to be a barrier, to the commerce, and intercourse of man. To us, a great portion of it, is more than a blani\.; we would rather have buried, not only a part, but the whole of it, beneath the billows of a vast inland sea. I? other res· pects, the map-makers have been less . correct; 1gnorant that these arid sands could swallow up all the rt vers, and torrents, and melted snows of the surrounding mountains, they omitted the loftiest ran ere in North Amorica, in order that the waters of L:..tke Tim panago~, (the Great Salt Lake,) might flow into the Bay of San Francisco. That was useless. They are thirsty still: the Rio Colerado, were it not protected by a wall of Mountains, would never reach the Gulf of California. Th12re are many lakes besides this, and many streams, running down from the mountains, which enclose this Valley of the Great Salt Lake; all of which, are swallowed up in the sands. The Valley of the Salt I...ake, has no outlet. The lofty range, which separates it from the Pacific, has yielded only to the Columbia. The Cascade Mountains, have been severed, only by the great River of the West; and the California Moun· tains, (an extension of the same,) are unbroken. They stand, like a mighty wall, to separate the g t·een valleys of Western California, f1·om this parched waste. This Eastern nortion of California, however, like Eastern Ot·e- • gon, contains some green spots, to show more effectually. the drea-riness of all around them. Along the Eastern base of the Califor· nia Mountains, there are, probably, enough of these productive spots, to induce men, in time, to inhabit them. They might be made somewhat profitable, for grazing. There is a region, of considerable extent, in the neighborhood of the Great Salt Lake, which would aflord excellent pasturage. There are also, on some DESERT REGION·-CLIMATE. 87 of the streams which empty into it, narrow valleys, which have a good soil. Only a portion of this, howeve1~, was seen by o~rs~l ves; our knowledge concerning it depends, partially, upon the mformation of others; togethet· with our knowldge, of the general chat·acter of the country. A great pot·tion of this habitable region, lies North of the forty second parallel of North latitud~, and is, consequently~ in the Oregon Territory. . . But there is a large portion of the desert regwn, of wh1ch there is little or nothing known. What is known, concerning it, has been learned by merely passing th l'Ough it, in a few places, by routes, seprated from each other, by great interveing dista~ces; yet fr~m the dreariness of every track, that has yet been tned, may be mfered with a good degree of certainty, 'Vhat those portions are, which have ye .. either repelled the efforts of the traveler, the trader, and the trapper; or deterred them, by their very appearance, from attempting to break in upon the secrecy of theit· gloomy and forbiding solitudes. With ~a very few exceptions, in this whole vast scope o[ territory, lying immediately beyond the Rocky Mountains, extending West several hundred miles, and to an uncertain distance North and South, thet·e can never locate any civilzed society. Their inhabitants will be like those in the Deserts of Arabia, and in the Sahara of Africa. The climate of Caltfornia, like that of Ot·egon, is much milder than in the same latitudes, any where East uf the Rocky Mountains. In fact, it is in every rAspect, very similar to the climate of Oregon ; excepting only, that it is warmer in proportion to its difference of latitude, and is dryer: there being not so much rain, during the winter season, and scarcely any during the summer. It is very mild; ice seldom ever being seen in the valleys, or snow, except upon the mountains. The extremes of heat_and cold, are not great; nor is the climate sebject to any great and sudden changes. The atmosphere is so pur~, that whole beeves will remain sweet and good, in the open air without salt, at any season of the year, fo1· three or four days at a time. The nights are quite cool, during the whole year; and sickness of any kind, is scarcely known or thought of. Nearly all the products of tern .. perate climates, except Indmn Corn, flourish here. Oats and clover grow spontaneously, i.n almost every part of the Province. The ·vine flourishes as we1I, perhaps, in California, as in any other por· t ion of the world; and its fruit is the finest, and decidedJy the |