The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-07-14
oranges, bananas, lines, mangoes, guayatas,
zapotes, etc, abound in the orchards, while

y
In the opposite direction from Todos
Point, about mile south of it, one may
cruise into the tiny bay of Saint Peter, and
back of its sand dunes and shell-covered
beach find fertile valley in which is a
small settlement (all MeXicans, of course),
also called San Pedro. Just back of the
settlement are two very deep arr0yos; the
northern one having a picturesque little
hamlet nestled under grove of towering
palms. while the other arroyo is topped by
a bluff of bright yellow, from whence a
slope, covered with rank and poisonous
spined cacti, trends off towards the foot
hills and thence to the mountains beyond.
Between this point and Cape San Lucas
the s2nd-be2ches are alternated with bar
rem cliffs that rise from four hundred to a
thousand feet, apparently right out Of the
water-though closer inspection will always
show little strip Of shell covered beach
at their feet.
Formally all vessels, large and small,
stopped at Cape San Lucas; but now they
do so only when signaled from shore-the
signal being the truly primitive one of
lighting fire upon some, nearby point OF
rocks. Three-quarters of a mile west of
the cape, there is gap i'll the hills where a
strip of sand beach cable wide extends to
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 a
ridge of sand mounds thrown up by the
sea. is the village OF the same name, sur
rounded on all sides by date-palms and
thorny cacti of various species. There is
q custom house of comparatively recent es-
tablishment, a score or more of bamboo
huts, and perhaps a dozen adobe casas,
in which abide the $50 citizens of this pen
insular metropolis.
Back of the village-which was old and
gray before New York was out of sWad-
ding clothes, or Chicago dreamed of-roll-
ing valleys gradually ascend to the noun
tains. The soil is good enough, but lack of
fresh water makes farming impracticable.
THE CHIEF SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE
is derived from the raising of cattle, to
which the land is better adapted, and there
are some extensive ranches in the vicinity.
But the people are poor, and their herds of
cattle are yearly subject to serious losses.
Besides some sailed beef, little fruit,
sugar and hides, damianu is exported-an
indigenous herb, the dried leaves of which
make a tea which is considered highly ben
eticial to the nerves and digestive organs.
In all the trees hereabOuts countless num-
bers of turtle-doves bill and coo; and so
numerous are the buZZardS and Vultures,
ON the house tops, in the streets, every
where-that to the stranger those useful
Scavengers of warm countries appear to be
domesticated. y road from San Lucas
runs close along the coast to San Jose del
CabO-''Saint Joseph of the Cape''-sixteen
miles distant.
From United States Vice Consul Dexter,
who resides at San Jose, I have gained
many interesting facts regarding this
region. He says that September is the
season when the most distress prevails
among the prOletarian class of the popu-
l alton in the matter of food supply, for then
the wild fruits which sustain them through
the summer have all disappeared. At this
time Of year the laboring people, with the
exception OF the poems. who belong per
on the haclendas and ranches,
have no occupation The mines, farther to
the northward. do not furnish steady work,
and until the orange harvests begin the
labOrers and their families are reduced to a
minimum of food. Besides this, there is
the work of collecting dGmidRd ana other
medicinal herbs and products of the forest
which 20 into commerce, and occasional
employment on the sugar and cotton har
vests when there is more to be done quickly
than the poems can accomplish.
OF late years the culture Of cotton on the
southern end Of the peninsula has been
by an increased demand for it at
prices: and therefore all
lands susceptible OF irrigation have been
devoted to it to an exclusive degree, caus-
ing q corresponding decrease in the pro
duction of sugar, the price of which had
fallen greatly from over supply.
THE SCARCITY OF STOCK,
together with the increased demand for
dry hides, has lately doubled the price of
beef cattle. Los Angeles, therefore, need
not longer leo uthward for her custom
airy supply Of beef.
Though when viewed from the sea- upon
either side, the peninsula looks very bare
and sterile when compared with coasts
where rain falls more frequently, Consul
Dexter asserts that "a short residence here
will convince the most skeptical that it
possesses vast resources, even superior to
those of Upper California" Most of the
land could be made available for valuable
purposes, by the application of energy, in
telligence and moderate capital. After the
annual rains, an astonishing change takes
place in the surface Of the country, which
is speedily carpeted with green. Even in
the absence of rain, the heavy dews pro-
duce grass enough for the sustenance of
stock Much of the soil is light, sandy
loan, and extensive plains afford ample
pasturage and abound in valu able fruits.
The mountains contain every known min
eral; and even from their SUBMITS water
flows, and grapes spring from their soil,
while timber grows in their gorges and to
some extent on the plains. The emigrant
has four degrees of climate to choose from,
in the area lying between the coast and the
with a soil wherein every exotic
can be produced; and if there are no
streams at hand, water is sure to be found
not far below the surface.
A large part of the tablelands and foot
hills are yet occupied solely by the wild
animals indigenous to the country. Shell
fish are also abundant along the coasts, as
well as the choicest varieties of food fishes
yielding, as it does, mother-of pearl,
oriental pearl. the nGCG and pdchG and other
shells of great variety, for ex-
and for lime which is manufac-
Jured therefrOm.
Upon the coasts, as well as in the in
terror, deposits of copper and gypsum are
found, sufficient to supply the world. The
gypsum exists in crude and crystalized
state, and takes polish as fine as that of
marble. 1t is used for household articles,
tables, and gravestones, and can be selected
n almost every hue, in
PURE OR MIXED CoLoRs.
Since IVA many apiaries have been con
iucted, and the wooded plains and hills are
populated with bees. The fora, for the
most part new to botany, is varied and val
liable. Probably no quarter of the globe
produces so great variety of medicinal
plants and roots, which, though little
known to the scientific world, have been
used for centuries by the ma
tive cIrGndirCs, or doctors.
There are copper mines that have been
worked for years, and few silver mines
A1r-r al To-,
erations. Gold mines are fewer, but such
IS thew are have long been the nrincipal