Lower California, in length about seven hundred miles, forms a great
peninsula, which crosses the tropics and terminates in the torrid zone.
It is separated from the mainland by the Gulf of California, sometimes
called the Vermilion Sea; into this gulf empties the Colorado of the
West, the Seeds-ke-dee, or Green River, as it is also sometimes called.
The peninsula is traversed by stern and barren mountains, and has many
sandy plains, where the only sign of vegetation is the cylindrical
cactus growing among the clefts of the rocks. Wherever there is water,
however, and vegetable mould, the ardent nature of the climate quickens
everything into astonishing fertility. There are valleys luxuriant with
the rich and beautiful productions of the tropics. There the sugar-cane
and indigo plant attain a perfection unequalled in any other part of
North America. There flourish the olive, the fig, the date, the
orange, the citron, the pomegranate, and other fruits belonging to the
voluptuous climates of the south; with grapes in abundance, that yield a
generous wine. In the interior are salt plains; silver mines and scanty
veins of gold are said, likewise, to exist; and pearls of a beautiful
water are to be fished upon the coast.
The peninsula of California was settled in 1698, by the Jesuits, who,
certainly, as far as the natives were concerned, have generally proved
the most beneficent of colonists. In the present instance, they gained
and maintained a footing in the country without the aid of military
force, but solely by religious influence.
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