. Personal narrative of explorations and incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua : connected with the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission, during the years 1850, '51, '52, and '53 . s quite soft and friabletowards the surface ; so that it was difficult to detachit with the obsidian adhering to it, except in verysmall pieces. The largest of the specimens obtainedwas about the size and shape of an ostrichs egg^ fromwhich they diminished to that of a pea. Many pre-sented sharp angles, where they had come in contactand been broken. The substance in which the obs
. Personal narrative of explorations and incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua : connected with the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission, during the years 1850, '51, '52, and '53 . s quite soft and friabletowards the surface ; so that it was difficult to detachit with the obsidian adhering to it, except in verysmall pieces. The largest of the specimens obtainedwas about the size and shape of an ostrichs egg^ fromwhich they diminished to that of a pea. Many pre-sented sharp angles, where they had come in contactand been broken. The substance in which the obsi-dian is imbedded resembles a coarse mortar of lime,sand, and gravel. I took a sketch of Napa Valleyfrom these hills, showing Mount Diabolo in the dis-tance, which is plainly seen from San Francisco andSacramento. Obsidian is used by the Indians for their arrow-heads in all parts of North America west of theRocky Mountains. It is found too among many tribesto the east of this range. The ancient Mexicans madeof it the knives which they used in their found small fragments of it along the Gila, wher-ever there had been any Indian villages; and alsoamong the ruins of the Casas Grandes, in Chihuahua,. AND RETURN TO SAN FRANCISCO. 51 as well as those of the Gila and Salinas Rivers. TheApaches had arrows pointed with the same I know of no other locality where obsidian isfound in place in any of the regions visited by theBoundary Commission except this. All the specimenswe saw were black, occasionally with a smoky orbrownish tint.* We now continued our journey, and reached at two oclock. After dinner we rambledover the adjacent hills to obtain a better view of thisdelightful valley, which lost none of its beauties fromwhatever point it was observed. On the opposite side of the mountains whichbound Napa Valley on the west, is Sonoma is similarly situated, running north and southbetween ranges of low mountains. It likewise pos-sesses gr
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