Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-07-20

found most of the cereals and vegetables
of the North and all the fruits of the
South. Thousands of pounds of panoche
Sugar are made here every year; and
dates, figs, coacoanuts, pomegranates, lines,
oranges, bananas, mangoes, quayates and
zapotes abound in the orchards and per-
fume the air, while the indigo plant, the
much-prized pitahdyo fruit, the castor oil
bean, ramaie, or vegetable silk, nut palm
and many other useful things grow wild
around the neighborhood.
In the opposite direction from Lobos
Point, about a mile south of it, one may
cruise into the tiny bay of ST. Peter, and
beach find fertile valley, in which is a
small settlement-of course all Mexicans.
Just beyond the settlement, which is called
San Pedro, are two very deep arroyos-the
northern one having a pretty little ham,
let, nestled under a group of towering
palms, the other arroyo is topped by
bluff of bright yellow clay, whence an
uneven slope, covered with rank and prick
ly cacti, trends off toward the mountains.
Between this point and Cape San
Lucas the sand beaches are alternated with
barren cliffs that rise from 400 to 1000
feet-apparently right out of the water,
though closer inspection will always show
strip of shell-strewn sand at their feet.
All vessels, large or small, formerly stopped
at
CAPE SAN LUCAS.
But now they do so only when signaled
from shore-the signal being the print
tive one of lighting fire upon some high
g of
the Cape there is a gap in the hills where
narrow strip of sand runs into the sea :;
and between this, and the wedge-shaped
ridge of hills that run out to Los Frailes,
is the pretty little cove called the Bay of
San Lucas. Close by, behind line of
sand-mounds thrown up by the sea, is the
village of the same name, surrounded on
| all sides by date-palms and cacti. There
| is Custom-house of comparatively recent
| establishment, score or more of bamboo
huts, aud perhaps dozen low-walled casas
of adobe, in which abide the $50 citizens
of this peninsula metropolis.
Behind the village-which was old and
gray before Boston was out of swadding
! clothes or New York was born-rolling
| valleys gradually rise to the foothills.
Though the soil is good enough, lack of
water makes farming less practicable than
| the raising of cattle, and, therefore, to the
latter industry the people are devoted.
| There are some extensive cattle ranches in
| the vicinity, but their owners are poor, for
their herds are yearly subject to serious
| losses. Besides some sailed beef, little
| fruit, sugar and hides, the chief export is
an indigenous herb called ddnaiand, the
| dried leaves of which, made into tea, is
| invaluable for the digestive and nervous
systems. Countless numbers of turtle
doves bill and coo in all the trees here
| abouts; and so numerous are the buzz
yards and vultures, fairly blackening the
house-tops and waddling clumsily about
the streets and door-yards, that to the
stranger those useful scavangers of warm
countries appear to be domesticated like
cats and chickens in the North. A road
runs close along shore from San Lucas to
San Jose del Cabo, distant sixteen miles.
From United State Vice Consul Dexter.
who resides at San Jose, l have gained
some interesting data regarding this re-
gion. He says that September is the
season when most distress prevails among
the proletarian class of the population,
because then they can hardly find
occupation, and the wild fruits that sus-
tain them through the summer have all
disappeared. Of course the poems, who
belong principally on the larger ranches,
are sure of something to eat. but the ma
jority are totally unemployed The mines,
| further to the northward, do not furnish
steady work, and until the orange harvests
| begin the families of the poor are reduced
to maximum of food OF late years
THE CULTURE OF COTTON
Has been greatly stimulated, and all lands
susceptible of irrigation have been devoted
to it to an almost exclusive degree.
Formerly sugar was raised instead, but the
prices fell from an oyer-supply.
Though when viewed from the sea,
upon either side, the peninsula looks so
sterile compared to coasts where rain falls
more frequently, Consul Dexter asserts
that "a short residence here will convince
the most skeptical that it possesses vast re-
sources, even superior to those of upper
California" He says that by the applica-
cation of intelligent industry and moderate
capital most of the land could be made
available for valuable purposes. After
the annual rains IN astonishing change
takes place in the So nee of the country,
which is then carpeted with richest green ;
| and even in the absence of rain, the heavy
dews produce grass enough for the sus-
tenance of stock. The emigrant has four
degrees of climate to choose from, in the
area lying between the coast and the
mountain tops, with soil wherein every
exotic can be produced by irrigation; and
| if no streams are near to furnish the water
supply, it can generally be obtained not
| far below the surface.
The mountains contain every known min
eral. Upon the coasts, as well as in the
interior, deposits of copper and gypsum
| are found, sufficient to supply the world
Gypsum exists both in the crude and
| crystallized state, and is susceptible to finer
polish than that of marble. 1t can be
selected in almost every color, in pure and
mixed hues, and is in demand for tables,
monuments, and various household articles
and ornaments. Some of the copper mines
have been worked for generations There
are few old silver mines that are still
yielding well. Gold mines are less fire.
quent, but such as are in use have long
been the support of a large share of the
population.
The flora of Baja California, for the
most part new to botany, is extremely va
ried and valuable. Probably no quarter
of the globe furnishes SO great a variety Of
medicinal roots and plants which, though
little known to the scientific world, have
been successfully used for centuries by ma
tive medicos and e1TandTds. A large part
of the table-lands and foothills are yet
solely occupied by indigenous wild ami
mails. Shellish are abundant along the
coasts, as well as the choicest variety of
food fishes. The gulf, especially, is YER
liable mine of treasures, yielding as it
does mother-of-pearl, Oriental pearls, the