with alkali, and in the south by a rugged lake basin.
Yet even here the evil is superficial, for nature has
left compensation in many valuable minerals; and
art promises to continue her task of reclamation by
means of palm-lined canals, health-bringing eucalyptus
groves, and rain-inviting forests.
It is a terrane younger than the eastern seaboard, wrought not by the same slow and prosy process of ordinary strata formation, but in many a fit of pas- sion, with upheavals and burstings asunder, with surg- ing floods and scorching, blasts. The soil yet quivers and is quick with electric force, and climatic moods are fitful as ever; here a gentle summers holiday^ there a winter of magnificent disorder; between, ex- hilarating spring, with buds and freshness, and beyond, a torrid fringe, parched and enervating. Side by side in close proximity are decided diflerences, with a partial subordination of latitude and season to local causes. Thus, on the peninsula of San Francisco winter appears in vernal warmth and vigor, and sum- mer as damp and chilly autumn, while under the shel- ter of some ridge, or farther from the ocean, summer is hot and arid, and winter cold and frosty.
While configuration permits surprises, it also tem- pers them, and as a rule the variations are not sud- den. The sea breezes are fairly constant whenever their refreshing presence is most needed, leaving rarely a night uncoole<l ; and the seasons are marked enough within their mild extremes. At San Fran- cisco a snow-fall is almost unknown, and a thunder- storm or a hot night extremely rare. Indeed, the sweltering days number scarcely half a dozen during the year. The average temperature is about 56 de- grees Fahrenheit, which is the mean for spring. In summer and autumn this rises to 60 and 59, respect- ively, falling in winter to 51, while at Sacramento the average is 58 degrees, with 56°, 69°, 61°, and 45° for the four seasons respectively. At Humboldt Bay, in the north, the temperature varies from 43 degrees in
