"The desert over which we had passed, ninety miles from water to water,
is an immense triangular plain, bounded on one side by the Colorado, on
the west by the Cordilleras of California, the coast chain of mountains
which now encircles us, extending from the Sacramento river to the
southern extremity of Lower California, and on the north-east by a
chain of mountains, running southeast and northwest. It is chiefly
covered with floating sand, the surface of which in various places is
white, with diminutive spinelas, and everywhere over the whole surface
is found the large and soft muscle shell. I have noted the only two
patches of grass found during the 'jornada.' There were scattered, at
wide intervals, the Palafoxia linearis, Atriplex, Encelia farinosa,
Daleas, Euphorbias, and a Simsia, described by Dr. Torrey as a new
species.
"The southern termination of this desert is bounded by the Tecate chain
of mountains and the Colorado; but its northern and eastern boundaries
are undefined, and I should suppose from the accounts of trappers, and
others, who have attempted the passage from California to the Gila by a
more northern route, that it extends many days' travel beyond the chain
of barren mountains which bound the horizon in that direction.
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