Page:Route Across the Rocky Mountains with a Description of Oregon and California.djvu/90



exposed to the Sea, to be a good and safe one. The town is small, containing only a population of about three hundred persons; and is built principally of dobies. Forty miles North East from Monte Rey, there is a bituminous, or Tar Spring, oozing out from the foot of a mountain, and covering several acres of ground. This bitumen or mineral Tar, is said to answer well, all the purposes for which common Tar is used: it is inflammable, and becomes hard by exposure to the atmosphere. South from Monte Rey, for several hundred miles, there are no valleys of considerable size, or country fit for cultivation; being a succession of high mountains, as far as Santa Barbara. Timber is scarce in this mountainous district, but it is, nevertheless, considered valuable for grazing; being covered with an abundance of oats, and various kinds of nutritious grass. At Santa Barbara, there is a fine valley, about five miles in width, and sixty in length. Immediately South of this valley, and separated from it by a mountain, is the lower Pueblo Valley, of about the same size. These valleys have a black alluvial soil, and are both traversed by small rivers, rising in the mountains to the East, flowing to the West, and emptying into the Ocean. They have numerous small tributaries, which arise in the bordering mountains, and empty from either side. The great objection to this portion of the country is that it is almost entirely destitute of timber. Gold is found in considerable quantities, in the upper part of the Pueblo Valley; yet the inconvenience of water, renders the working of the mines less profitable. A company was formed, however, about the time of our leaving the country, to engage in this business. The Pueblo, and Santa Barbara, are both towns of considerable size; containing each, probably, a population of about two thousand. They are situated about twenty miles from the sea shore, and the inhabitants are engaged in stock raising, and the cultivation of the vine. There is anchorage for shipping, at the Western termination of these valleys. The Southern portion of the Province of California, called Lower California, is more populous than the portion which we have been considering; but its population consists almost entirely of Mexican Spaniards, and Indians; there being but very few “Foreigners” in that part of California. (The term Foreigners, is used here to designate all others, except the Mexican spaniards, and Indians; though they have been residents in the country for many years; have become citizens; or even though they have been born in the country; still they are foreigners, if they