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clover, and even the wild oats, spring up spontaneously throughout the whole country, and nature begins to put on that verdant garment, which, by Christmas, becomes a beautiful carpet, enamelled with wild flowers of a thousand tints and hues. The tender blades which first shoot up, cause the animals to purge, and they consequently become weak and lose their flesh; but soon the riper food grows plentiful, and as you journey moderately with your horse, allowing him his regular night-feeding, he begins to pick up, and soon waxes fat, although, unlike Jeshurun, he does not kick. In the early spring months the cattle revel in the most luxuriant and abundant pasture, and this continues until September, when, it is true, the grass dries up, but the earth is covered with its seeds, which, as I have before mentioned, possess the most nutritious qualities, and are collected for food by the Indians. The seed of the alfileria and burr-clover are about the size of our flax-seed, and bread is made from them by the Indians. The cattle, and large wild animals, grope for these seeds; and at this season the whole animal creation, even the countless little marmots, squirrels, &c., are revelling in fat, and beef and game are deliciously juicy and tender. Then ensues a season of comparative scarcity, and, before the rain sets in, the earth is parched as hard and dry as an adobe; the streams have retired altogether from their beds, or run in a slender thread, or sometimes leave only a water hole here and there; the leaves of the trees fall off; the ground is sparsely covered with the dried grass, upon which the cattle barely subsist, with the addition of the long fresh tough grass, growing in the almost inaccessible mountain retreats, to which they retire in a moping and melancholy mood. The game, too, now gets lean; the bucks commence running with the does, and a shabby bluish colored coat supersedes the lively fawn-colored uniform they have been wont to wear. As few rancheros ever lay up even a moderate store of barley or fodder for their caballadas, the tame saddle-horses pine

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COLORS OF HORSES.

away, and show in their meagre, Rosinante condition, how severely they feel the loss of their accustomed food. The only animals which appear in fair condition are the manadas, which, accustomed to a free and roving life, are led forth by their garañons to a sort of rustic retirement and privacy, amidst the romantic glens and dells of the most remote and secluded part of the rancho, where they pass away the time very pleasantly. At length the first showers descend; the thirsty earth greedily drinks up the moisture, and is revivified; the murmuring brooks again appear on the surface, along the whole length of their beds; a thousand rills and little cataracts leap from the mountains; the trees put forth fresh foliage, the "sere and yellow leaf" being often immediately replaced by the springing bud. And now nature everywhere dons her green mantle, embroidered with an infinite variety of flowers, and thus the new year divides the autumn from the spring.

The only enemy of the horse in California, is the "leon," or puma, an animal of the same species, but larger and more ferocious than our panther. They are armed with long, sharp claws and teeth, and destroy many young colts, but seldom attack a full-grown horse.

Notwithstanding the great variety in the colors of horses, the language of Spain is so admirably adapted to a cattlebreeding community, that a horse of any shade may be so accurately described, in a few words, that a Californian will not fail to recognize him in the most numerous caballada. There are names for the primary colors, and combinations of these are used to describe any intermediate shade, however minute. Thus, pinto" being the specific name for all piebald horses, a "pinto colorado" is a piebald horse on which the spots are reddish, and so "bayo blanco" is the designation of light cream color. The various shades of roan, for which we possess that single term, are here distinguished by innumerable combinations, as "bayo picado," a roan with dark spots, " bayo colorado," &c. The

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saino,"

bays are classified with the same minuteness, as "saino prieto," "saino colorado," &c.; and a horse with four white feet receives the addition of "cuatro alba." Any peculiarity the animal may have, such as an excrescence, deformity, or mutilation, is likewise pithily brought in when describing him. There are also arbitrary terms, such as "champurrada," a horse of the color of gruel and chocolate mixed; a retinto," a horse of the color of the wine of California, and many others "too tedious to mention." I have often described horses in this way, which the vaquero whom I addressed had never seen, but which he recognized as a "caballo conocido"-a well-known horse. The far-reaching vision, too, of these fellows, is extraordinary; for they can distinguish the horse much sooner than the rider, or select a horse from a large caballada, or manada, at distances which, if mentioned to the uninitiated, would appear enormously stretched.

I think that a cross of the Californian mare with the American horse would produce a superb animal. The garañons of California are generally heavy-moulded and unsprightly, while the mares are precisely the reverse. The foal of a Californian mare, sired by a genuine blooded horse from Virginia, would probably be the perfection of horseflesh. The Californians take no pains to cross the original stock, although none are greater admirers of fine horses; and it is desirable that some gentleman of the turf should emigrate with a few choice male specimens of the American stables.

CHAPTER XI.

"Bunk's" Great Shot-Arrival at the Laguna-The Island Indians-Arrival at Sacred Town.

AFTER passing a few hours in resting our animals in anticipation of the rugged road we should now have to travel, and in viewing the improvements of Mr. Chiles, we all started again on our journey. After a pleasant ride, through a broad valley, we again ascended the serrania by a most excruciating road, which, however, was well atoned for by the bold mountain-scenery and the huge pine-trees, whose cones were often larger than a man's head. Our route lay over volcanic masses of basaltic fragments, and conducted us to the rancho of Greenock, the frontier settler on this side. Here we remained all night, and starting next morning at sunrise, our Indian guides conducted us over the last pass of the sierra, and we entered a country of beautiful uplands, broad savannahs, and shady glades, containing much excellent timber. After riding leisurely all day, diverging occasionally to get a shot at a deer, we suddenly emerged from our mountain-path upon a level and extensive plain, and saw the Lake, or rather a portion of it. in its narrowest part, the border being fringed with plains of tulé, and the dim outline of the distant and mountain-bounded horizon, indicating that either the Lake or the plain was very extensive. Nearer to us was a huge mountain jutting like a towering promontory into the Lake, to the base of which we directed the course of our jaded horses.

While we are toiling on to reach our destination, I will mention that "Bunk" this day made a most astonishing shot. A single elk was browsing on the side of a hill, the space between him and us being covered with undergrowth of a considerable elevation. He stopped grazing, and appeared to watch our movements with great interest, but without apparent anxiety on his own account. Bunk dismounted and took a careful and deliberate aim, making allowance, as he afterwards told me, for the fall of the ball in its flight. The crack of his rifle was followed by the disappearance of the animal, as suddenly as if he had sunk into the earth. The Indians of our company, (who only could have done it), plunged into the undergrowth and soon towed the elk to us tailing on to a horse-rope. Mecate! he was a noble buck with enormous antlers, and almost as weighty as a bullock. His death-wound was caused by a bullet striking on the shoulder and passing directly through the spinal vertebra; and the blow must have stunned him as if it had been an electric shock, which accounted for his sudden fall. The distance seemed so great that I had it carefully measured with a riata, exactly three yards in length, and the result was one hundred and six lengths of the riata, or three hundred and eighteen yards-about two hundred and fifty on an air-line!

We reached the base of the high sierra, which is here laved by the waters of the Lake, a little before sunset, and encamped in an oak grove, opposite a pretty little islet, about four hundred yards from the tulé-fringed margin. After some shouting to the people of the island in their own language by our Indian guides, a tulé-boat was launched and approached our camp.

The Indians at first supposed that we had come on a hostile expedition, and were seen from the main-land running around the island, apparently calling to arms, while a signal was made from its conical summit, in answer to which several tulé-boats that were out fishing in the Lake