under the expectation that it would soon take another direction, we
followed it, passing over a fertile soil, sufficiently timbered and
watered by several small streams. The quantity of arable land in
California, I believe, is much greater than has generally been supposed
from the accounts of the country given by travellers who have visited
only the parts on the Pacific, and some few of the missions. Most of
the mountain valleys between the Sierra Nevada and the coast are
exuberantly fertile, and finely watered, and will produce crops of all
kinds, while the hills are covered with oats and grass of the most
nutritious qualities, for the sustenance of cattle, horses, and hogs.
The acorns which fall from the oaks are, of themselves, a rich annual
product for the fattening of hogs; and during the period of transition
(four or five weeks after the rains commence falling) from the dry
grass to the fresh growth, horses, mules, and even horned cattle mostly
subsist and fatten upon these large and oleaginous nuts.

We left the valley in a warm and genial sunshine, about 11 o'clock, and
commenced ascending another high mountain, timbered as those I have
previously described. When we reached the summit, we were enveloped in
clouds, and the rain was falling copiously, and a wintry blast drove
the cold element to our skins. Crossing this mountain three or four
miles, we descended its sleep sides, and entered another beautiful and
romantic hollow, divided as it were into various apartments by short
ranges of low conical hills, covered to their summits with grass and
wild oats. The grass and other vegetation on the level bottom are very
rank, indicating a soil of the most prolific qualities. In winding
through this valley, we met four Indians on foot, armed with long bows,
and arrows of corresponding weight and length, weapons that I have not
previously seen among the Indians. Their complexions were lighter than
those of the _rancheria_ Indians of California. They evidently belonged