Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/454





State of California, as at present formed by its constitution, lies chiefly between the Sierra Nevada and the sea. North and south, it embraces about ten degrees of latitude, from 32°, where it touches the peninsula of Lower California, to 42°, where it bounds on Oregon. East and west, from the Sierra Nevada to the sea, it will average, in the central parts, one hundred and fifty miles, and in the northern, two hundred. The whole State is thus, in truth, a single geographical formation or great valley, though commonly divided into the valleys of San Joaquin and Sacramento—the two great streams which flow from the north and south until they meet near the centre of the State and wend their way to the ocean through the bay of San Francisco.

This beautiful arm of the ocean, which is pronounced by all geographers to be one of the most wonderful harbors in the world, was discovered about 1768 by a party of Franciscan friars, who bestowed upon it the name of their patron Saint. Completely landlocked, it is capable of sheltering the most extended commerce. Approached from the sea, a bold outline of coast scenery is presented to the observer. On the south, the bordering mountains descend in narrow ranges, lashed by the surf of the Pacific. On the north, a bluff promontory rises full three thousand feel above