| OCR Text |
Show THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 109 fornia malaria is quite as bad in its way as AVabash malaria, for I had the unmistakable old- fashioned ague. The returning miners who brought East such wonderful accounts of the healthfulness of California, spent most of their time there in the hills or on the higher plateaus; for in the low grounds along the larger streams there is miasma enough. For many miles along their lower course, the Sacramento and San Joaqum ( which the absurd natives pro-nounce Wahkeen) are bordered by vast marshes and tule lands, which yield slowly to flood plains, all overflowed in the rainy season. The days are hot, the nights are cool, the winter and spring very wet, the summer very dry why should we not find malaria, if nature's laws are uniform? But a little further away from the streams, the dry air of California, slightly tempered by ocean winds, gives assur-ance of health. I next sought the rural districts, crossing the Sacramento into Yolo County, and following the raised track of the California Cen-tral Railroad as my best passage through the tide lands. Tule is the Spanish or Indian name of a coarse reed which covers the entire tract, green during winter and spring, but now dry as tin-der, and furnishing fuel for extended fires. Far down among the reeds, which often exceeded ten feet in height, I saw cattle hunting for scattered clumps of grass, which still had a little shade of green in the moisture preserved by the tides. Beyond this tract, the road emerges into a vast plain, overflowed for many miles out in winter, but now dry and dusty, and covered with coarse grass of a yellow-ish brown color, which looks, to the Eastern eye, as if every par-ticle of nutriment were burnt out of it. At Davisville, fifteen miles from Sacramento, I remained a few days to investigate the fruit farms and silk culture. A large field had been planted in mulberry trees ; a factory large enough to em-ploy a hundred hands was being erected, and the experiment is now hi active and favorable operation. Sericulture will some day con-stitute one of the leading interests of California, as capable men are entering upon it at several places, and there can scarcely be a doubt that the climate and soil are well adapted thereto. The want of cheap labor has been the great hinderance ; and this is supplied by the Chinese, who will probably become silk manufac-turers here as at home. Vineyards extended in all directions. The picking season was over, but there were still grapes enough on the vines to furnish a plentiful repast. Many thousand bunches had dried upon the stem, and tasted more like raisins than grapes, un- |
