CALIFORNIA, Old, a province of Mexico, or New Spain, was first discovered to be a peninsula in 1541. It is united on the north to the continent of North America, from which it is separated on the east by a narrow sea called the Gulf of California; and it is bounded on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. It is nearly 900 miles in length, and varies from thirty to a hundred and twenty miles in breadth. The climate is in general hot, dry, and barren; but, in some spots where there are water and vegetable mould, fruit and corn multiply in an astonishing manner, and the vines afford a wine similar to that of the Canaries. The sky is of a deep blue colour, and seldom obscured by clouds; but when these are seen floating in the horizon towards sunset, they display the most brilliant tints of purple and emerald. The ground of this peninsula is rough and uneven, full of mountainous ridges and sandy and stony places. There runs through the centre a chain of mountains, of which the greatest elevation is from 4500 to 4900 feet above the level of the sea. A considerable number of wild quadrupeds, as well as a great variety of birds, are found here; and there is met with a variety of the sheep of a very large size, which affords an exceedingly delicate and excellent food, and a wool which is easily spun. Wood is very scarce; and it is only towards the Cape Sanducas that any trees are to be found. Gold mines were at one time supposed to abound in this province, but all that have been discovered are only a few scanty veins. At the distance of forty leagues from Loreto there are two silver mines, which are considered as tolerably productive; but, from the want of wood and mercury, it is found almost impossible to work them. In the interior of the country there are plains covered with a very
beautiful crystalline salt. The coast of California supplies pearls of a beautiful water, and large, but of an irregular figure. Since the missions have been on the decline, the population has been reduced to less than 9000 inhabitants, who are dispersed over a tract of country as large as England. Loreto, a little town with a military post, is the chief place of California. The inhabitants, Spaniards, Mestizos, and Indians, are supposed to amount to about 1000 in number. This is the most populous place of all California.