Starting about 3 o'clock P.M., we
travelled in a south course over a flat plain until sunset, and
encamped near a small lake on the rancho of Mr. Murphy, near the
Coscumne River, a tributary of the Sacramento, which heads near the
foot of the Sierra Nevada. The stream is small, but the bottom-lands
are extensive and rich. Mr. Murphy has been settled in California about
two years, and, with his wife and several children, has resided at this
place sixteen months, during which time he has erected a comfortable
dwelling-house, and other necessary buildings and conveniences. His
wheat crop was abundant this year; and he presented us with as much
milk and fresh butter as we desired. The grass on the upland plain over
which we have travelled is brown and crisp from the annual drought. In
the low bottom it is still green. Distance 18 miles.
_September 14_.--We crossed the Coscumne River about a mile from our
camp, and travelled over a level plain covered with luxuriant grass,
and timbered with the evergreen oak, until three o'clock, when we
crossed the Mickelemes River, another tributary of the Sacramento, and
encamped on its southern bank in a beautiful grove of live oaks.
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