In a deep cañon, twenty miles east of Los Angeles, asphaltum issues from a mountain side, depositing large quantities in the gorge below. On the coast of Santa Barbara county, near Mount Hoar, asphaltum forms a thick coat upon the sea-shore, and in places runs far into the sea, following the beach from the slate rock from which it oozes. From these deposits as well as from those in Los Angeles county large quantities of asphaltum are shipped to San Francisco, where it is extensively used for roofing purposes; and, when mixed with gravel and sand, it forms the elegant sidewalks of San Francisco.

TAR SPRINGS.-Six miles west of Buena Vista lake, in the western part of Kern county and near the eastern line of Santa Barbara county, is a boiling spring of thick tar, and another of petroleum-the former covering about an acre. From the centre of this spring or lake constant jets of steam and gas escape; as the fluid around the edges of the spring cools, it forms a solid asphaltum: birds, beasts, and reptiles, unconscious of danger, often rest upon this liquid matter around the edges, only to find themselves imbedded in the congealed and gluey mass in the embrace of death: their bones are found in great quantities in this congealed

matter.

In the southern and eastern portion of Kern county large tracts of alkali desert and salt marsh is found, with salt and hot springs. In the eastern part of this county, in a small valley, surrounded by high mountains, is a small salt lake, the water of which is very pure and very salt. The great evaporation caused by the rays of the sun pouring down in this little valley produces

great quantities of the best quality of salt. All the salt supply for this section of country is obtained in this lake. Salt and sulphur are also obtained at many points along the coast in the lower portion of the State; and in Alameda county, across the bay from San Francisco, large quantities of salt are produced annually, by flooding the marsh lands with the water of the bay and damming it in, until, under the powerful rays of the sun, it is absorbed, leaving its crystals of salt on the bottom, from which they are gathered and sent to market.

GEYSERS.-One hundred miles north of San Francisco and twenty-five in a direct line north of Santa Rosa, in the northeast corner of Sonoma county, is one of the greatest natural curiosities in the State, if not in the world. In a deep cañon, surrounded by sharp and abrupt peaks of the Coast Range, is the scene of the mysterious laboratory of nature known as the Geysers and hot springs. The springs, which are very numerous, are in Pluton cañon, and cover a space of about two hundred acres; they are about eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, with mountains on all sides from three thousand to four thousand feet in height; there are more than three hundred springs, steam-holes, and gas-jets in the group. On the sidehills in the vicinity oak and fir trees rear their heads above the smoke and steam of the cauldron below; and the scenery in the vicinity is picturesque and romantic. There is abundance of trout in the adjacent streams, and of bear, deer, and quail in the hills. There is good hotel accommodation, and were it not that during the summer months it is so warm, the Geyser springs would be a most agreeable summer resort for tourists.

The springs are of various sizes and degrees of heat; some so hot that an egg can be boiled in three minutes. The fluids emitted from these springs are of every color and shade: one, the "Devil's Ink Bottle," sends forth a good quality of black ink. Mingled with the fluids, impregnating the air, and crusting the surface in this vicinity, are alum, ammonia, sulphuric acid, nitric acid, sulphur, epsom salts, magnesia, and soda.

A short distance from this is the "Witch's Cauldron," about seven feet in diameter, boiling and hissing, as its sable hell-broth lashes for three or four feet above the lips of the cauldron. The depth of this infernal pit is unknown.

Some yards from the cauldron are "Steamboat springs," where, in apertures in the side of the rocks, in dense volumes, great jets of steam shoot forth with a roaring, thundering noise, like the escaping steam from a steamboat. Strange to say, that, in the edges of the steam and hot springs, where the heat is two hundred degrees, grass, flowers, and herbs grow: they are, however, peculiar to this place, and seem to flourish in water and steam that would destroy life in any other vegetable growth.

In the vicinity of this laboratory of nature wagonloads of alum, sulphates of iron, sulphur, and epsom salts can be gathered. The strange and fearful commotions in this locality, whether caused by chemical forces or from some unquenched furnace still devouring the rocks below, is well calculated to impress the beholder with the power of Omnipotence.

Shocks of earthquakes, although irregular and uncertain in their oscillations and appalling in the extreme, soon pass away; but to stand upon the verge of eter

nity surrounded with volumes of steam and smoke, whose sulphurous odors stifle and blind, and where the quivering lips and gaping jaws coated with rough sulphurous scales sputter in angry moans from infernal depths, while the black, yellow, and green-streaked boiling saliva from these angry mouths, whose fetid breath suffocates and confounds, lashes up its acid fluids, and seeming to invite the beholder into the "Devil's Cauldron," with his sins fresh blown upon him, is not to be trifled with nor easily forgotten.

The famed Geysers of Iceland, Milton's Paradise Lost, and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, warmed up with a doctrinal sermon upon the unquenchable fires of hell, may serve to awaken a lively imagination of the regions where the "worm never dieth;" but, for a genuine realization of the blowpipe of his Satanic majesty, drop the hypochondriac in the midst of these seething scenes -let him cast his eyes upon the mountains of sulphur around-let him look upon the mysterious meanderings of Pluton creek-inhale the gases and fumes emitted from the angry mouths craving for a drop of cold water-look upon the scalding and angry fluids—feel the sides of the crater tremble and swell beneath his feet, as heavy sighs come forth from its fathomless furnace, and its sulphurous crest is shaken in reckless defiance of the tame realities of every-day life—and the scene is complete, and the argument of unquenchable fires conclusive.

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CHAPTER XVIII.

Waterfalls-Yosemite falls-Creeks-Rivers-Mirror lake-Bridal Vail-Earthquakes.

THERE are few countries in the world so well supplied with water as California. She abounds in vast lakes, expansive bays, and swift rivers. The Coast Range of mountains pours innumerable streams of crystal water from its sides, cutting their way through its ridges to the ocean on the west, or coursing down its eastern side to water the fertile valleys below. In this range there are many beautiful cañons, glens, and valleys, through which these streams leap in sparkling cascades, affording tempting and cheap motive power for the wheels of industry, and this power the growing necessities of the times will demand.

Almost two hundred miles to the east of this chain of mountains are the famed Sierras, stretching for four hundred and fifty miles along the eastern line of the State, with their numerous lakes and dashing rills fed by the eternal snows of their mountain tops, and pouring their liquid streams into the parched valleys below. The myriads of bounding streams which course from the western slope of this range have many features of wild beauty and utility. Besides supplying the miner and agriculturist with water, their foaming, leaping tides, pouring through deep chasms thousands of feet below, over the frowning, precipitous walls of rocks, the rugged hill-sides, and through the tall trees, must, like the waters of the Coast Range, at no distant day