covered the whole country in that vicinity with a bed of sand several inches deep, obliterating the wells and all the landmarks around them.

The shifting sands on this portion of the desert, when disturbed by the tempests which frequently pass over them, are as dangerous to travelers as the fearful siroccos which sweep over the deserts of Arabia, and change the whole appearance of the country in a few hours, obliterating roads and landmarks intended for the guidance of the wayfarer.

Near the boundary-line towards Arizona, after crossing the New river, the appearance of the country changes completely. Although still in the desert district, it is no longer a desert; but the vegetable and animal life are strange in form and habits. Instead of the shifting sand, there is a soil of greyish tint, nearly as hard and compact as brick, covered with a scant crop of short, wiry grass, among which grow an infinite variety of cacti, of all shapes and sizes-from the slender "rat-tail" to great squat lumps as large as nail kegs, and about as handsome in form, all covered with spines and prickles, as if Nature had tried to make them as hateful as possible. The mesquite also grows luxuriantly in this section, giving it a forest-like appearance as compared with the sandy plains. The Indians from Arizona and Lower California, pay this portion of the desert a visit each fall, to collect a winter's supply of the nutritious beans of this tree. Here, too, may be seen swarms of paroquets, orioles, and other birds, of the most brilliant plumage, which aid in giving the whole scene a decidedly tropical character.

The town of San Diego, located near the harbor of the same name, is the oldest settled place in the State. It was established in May, 1769, by the missionaries, when they founded the first California mission-located about six miles inland from the town. San Diego, the Spanish for St. James, the titular saint for this mission, gives his name to the county, town, and bay. It was called Cosoy by the aborigines, of whom many thousands lived on the coast plains when the missionaries arrived there. There are scarcely any there now. The town contains between 300 and 400 inhabitants, a large proportion of whom are Mexicans and native Californians. It is five hundred miles from San Francisco, and one hundred and twenty-five miles from Los Angeles.

About a mile from the old town, and near the bay, is New San Diego, which has been built within a year or two, where the government storehouses and several substantial residences, and a new wharf, have been erected for the accommodation of trade. The California,.

Oregon and Mexico Steamship Company are about to erect a wharf and warehouse, to conduct the increasing business of the port.

There has been quite an increase in the number of settlers in the county, during the past year. Several of the old Mexican ranchos, which embraced miles of good land, have been purchased and subdivided among American farmers, who will soon make it produce something more valuable than hides and tallow.

The mission near the old town had the largest and most beautiful church, and buildings, on the coast. They covered several acres, and were surrounded by extensive gardens and orchards, which produced a great variety of fruits and flowers. The old church, now crumbling to ruins, affords evidence of the architectural skill of its reverend builders. Its bells, which for nearly three quarters of a century summoned the Indian to labor and prayer, were taken from the belfry as recently as 1866. The church property at present belongs to the Catholic bishop of the diocese. The old gardens are nearly all destroyed, only a few olive trees remaining to show where they had been.

San Luis el Rey-or, more properly, San Luis Rey de Françia, in honor of Louis IX, of France, a warrior in the time of the crusades-is near the harbor of that name on the coast, about forty-six miles north from San Diego. It is located in a beautiful valley, about a mile wide, and twenty-four miles in length, through which passes a permanent stream of water, the San Luis river. The mission of San Luis Rey was located in this valley, at the head of which now stands the town of Pala.

The orange, lemon, lime, citron, walnut, fig, olive, and other tropical fruits, grow to perfection in this valley, as well as wheat, barley, potatoes and corn, but it is only partially under cultivation.

Temecula, about twenty miles north from Pala, is another town of some little importance. It contains about sixty Americans, two hundred Mexicans, and nearly six hundred Indians. It was proposed to establish a reservation at this place for the protection of the Indians, who are more numerous and better behaved here than in any other portion of the State. They live on rancherias, cultivate considerable land, and own many cattle, sheep and horses. This town is located on the bank of the San Margarita river, on the southern edge of a series of plains. extending nearly forty miles to the eastward, which comprise some of the finest grazing lands in the southern portion of the State, being covered with wild oats, clover, and other nutritious grasses, furnishing pasturage for thousands of cattle, horses, and sheep. These plains are watered by numerous lagoons, formed along the beds of

the rivers which do not flow to the sea, except during the winter. Much of this fine land is owned by Mexicans, in large tracts. Some of these people live in the same style they did before the country became a State. One of these native rancheros, living near Temecula, who owns several leagues of these plains, and has nearly five thousand head of cattle grazing on them, never saves a drop of milk, or makes a pound of butter-these being luxuries in little use here.

Warner's ranch is another small town, about forty-five miles easterly from Temecula.

Fort Yuma, a military post in the extreme southeast corner of the State, has caused a number of settlers to locate in that vicinity, where there are placer gold mines of some importance, in what is known as the Picachto district.

The principal products of the county are cattle, sheep, hides, wool and tallow. The great distance from the central market at San Francisco, and the limited home demand, render it unprofitable to raise the cereals for exportation. Oranges, olives, almonds, raisins and figs, can be cultivated with success in this county. It has a fine climate, rich soil, and a good harbor, and contains gold, silver and copper mines; but its resources are quite undeveloped, for want of population.

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

This is the largest county in the State, containing more than 10,000,000 acres, about three-fourths of which consist of dry, desert valleys, volcanic ranges, and inaccessible mountains, though not wholly without mineral wealth. About 3,000,000 acres are covered by the Coast Range and other mountains, portions of which are valuable for mining, grazing, and lumbering. Much of the finest land in the county is covered by extensive Mexican grants, some of which embrace tracts of eleven square leagues. These large ranches have been great impediments in the way of settling the southern counties; but within the past year, there has been every opportunity offered to actual settlers, to purchase in subdivisions.

The county, which was not organized until 1854, (prior to this, it formed part of Los Angeles county,) takes its name from a mission founded by an early Spanish settler named Lugos, who once owned the whole of the San Bernardino valley, cultivating it chiefly by Indian labor. This mission stands about ten miles southeast of the old town of San Bernardino.

The county is bounded on the north by Inyo county, and the State of Nevada; on the east by the Colorado river; on the south, by San

Diego county and on the west, by Kern and Los Angeles counties. The Sierra Nevada makes a short, easterly curvature on the northwest of this county, leaving a tract of wild desert and broken volcanic ranges on the north and east, nearly one hundred miles in length by one hundred miles in width, of which scarcely any portion is fit for human habitation; but, being rich in gold and silver, numerous mining districts have, from time to time, been laid out and partially developed. These mining districts are in the north of this great wilderness. The Slate Range, Washington, Argus, Telescope, Armagosa, Potosi, and several others, attracted some attention a few years since, but the country is such a miserable desert, without wood or water, that even gold, unless in large quantities, will not secure its permanent settlement. Nearly all of these districts have been abandoned, although some of them are known to be rich in the precious metals.

The whole of this great range of country presents the appearance of having been broken and torn by subterranean fires, which melted the hard rocks into rough, jagged masses, after which they were submerged beneath the ocean for ages, until their extreme roughness was worn off by currents of water charged with sand and gravel, when they were again elevated above the waters, covered with salt lagoons, drift sands, and great beds of gravel and mud.

The numerous beds of dry lakes and creeks found in all directions, mark where these upraised waters passed away. Here and there, the cones of extinct volcanoes, heaps of pumice, obsidian, and fragments. of lava, boiling mud-holes, hot springs, and deposits of sulphur, show that the subterranean fires, which probably uplifted and depressed the country, have not entirely ceased their operations.

There is, probably, no portion of the State less inviting to the traveler, than this northern section of San Bernardino county. The vegetation is scant, and altogether different from that growing in the south-west corner of the county. The yucca (yucca baccata), the small-nut pine (pinus edulis), and western juniper (juniper occidentalis), are all that approach in size to a tree, and these only grow sparsely among the granite ranges along the Mohave, and at a few other places among the mountains. The yucca is the most abundant. This curious plant is a variety of palm; it grows from five to fifteen feet high, with a stem from six inches to a foot in diameter, having from two to five branches; its leaves, which resemble the blade of a bayonet, hang down the side of the stem, giving it a rugged, uncouth appearance. This tree forms a staple article of fuel over hundreds of miles of this country.

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The sink of the Mohave, or Soda lake, lies in this section of San Bernardino county. The Mohave river flows from Bear valley, running through cañons, over and under the surface, for more than one hundred miles before it reaches the lake. This lake is about five miles wide, by about twenty miles in length. Although called a lake, it never contains any water, the whole stream of the river, during the rainy season, sinking beneath the alkaline soil as fast as it flows in. In 1867, the waters of this river were lower than they had been known for many years, notwithstanding the rains were heavier than usual. A number of new openings in the earth have been discovered along its course, through which the waters passed, leaving many springs dry that were never known to fail before. This fact corroborates our remarks concerning the gradual rising of the Colorado desert, referred to in the topography of San Diego county. The entire surface of this Soda lake is covered with carbonate of soda, to such a depth as to give it the appearance of a snow drift.

The great Death valley, in the north of this county, extends into Inyo in its northeastern corner. This frightful place, according to the surveys of Major Williamson, is from one hundred to two hundred and fifty feet below the level of the ocean, while, but seventy miles west of it are clustered a number of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada, many of which are from 12,000 to 15,000 feet in height. These facts will afford some idea of the wild confusion of mountains, cañons, and depressions that mark the topography of this portion of the State.

This valley, which owes its name to the melancholy fate of a large party of immigrants, who perished from thirst within its limits, in 1849, is one hundred miles long by twenty miles wide. For forty-five miles in length, and fifteen miles in width, along its center, it is a salt marsh, with a thin layer of soil covering an unknown depth of soft gray mud. The Amargoza river sinks into this marsh. The sides of the valley are steep and barren, a few mesquite, growing among the sands at its head, being all the vegetation to be seen. Its western bank is formed of gravel and hardened mud; on the east it is bounded by high mountains of slate and granite. There is no water fit to drink for many miles, and although there are numerous springs, they are all intensely alkaline. The whole surface of the valley, except the marsh in the center, is covered with sand and gravel, and is scarred in all directions with deep grooves, which appear to have been made by freshets, caused by heavy storms, or bursting of water spouts, that occasionally have done considerable mischief in the surrounding region within the past year or two. The heat of this valley is fearful during the summer.