The horses are not as large as the breeds of the United
States, but in point of symmetrical proportions and in capacity for
endurance they are fully equal to our best breeds. The distance we have
travelled to-day I estimate at thirty-five miles.
_September 17_.--The temperature of the mornings is most agreeable, and
every other phenomenon accompanying it is correspondingly delightful to
the senses. Our breakfast consisted of warm bread, made of unbolted
flour, stewed beef, seasoned with _chile colorado_, a species of red
pepper, and _frijoles_, a dark-coloured bean, with coffee. After
breakfast I walked with Dr. Marsh to the summit of a conical hill,
about a mile distant from his house, from which the view of the plain
on the north, south, and east, and the more broken and mountainous
country on the west, is very extensive and picturesque. The hills and
the plain are ornamented with the evergreen oak, sometimes in clumps or
groves, at others standing solitary. On the summits, and in the gorges
of the mountains, the cedar, pine, and fir display their tall
symmetrical shapes; and the San Joaquin, at a distance of about ten
miles, is belted by a dense forest of oak, sycamore, and smaller timber
and shrubbery.
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