angular,
covered with small square scales. The upper part of the body was
likewise covered with small scales, green, yellow, black, and blue. Each
foot had five toes, furnished with strong nails, probably to aid it in
burrowing, as it usually lived under ground on the plains.

A remarkable fact, characteristic of the country west of the Rocky
Mountains, is the mildness and equability of the climate. The great
mountain barrier seems to divide the continent into different climates,
even in the same degrees of latitude. The rigorous winters and sultry
summers, and all the capricious inequalities of temperature prevalent on
the Atlantic side of the mountains, are but little felt on their western
declivities. The countries between them and the Pacific are blessed with
milder and steadier temperature, resembling the climates of parallel
latitudes in Europe. In the plains and valleys but little snow falls
throughout the winter, and usually melts while falling. It rarely lies
on the ground more than two days at a time, except on the summits of the
mountains. The winters are rainy rather than cold. The rains for five
months, from the middle of October to the middle of March, are almost
incessant, and often accompanied by tremendous thunder and lightning.
The winds prevalent at this season are from the south and southeast,
which usually bring rain. Those from the north to the southwest are the
harbingers of fair weather and a clear sky. The residue of the year,
from the middle of March to the middle of October, an interval of seven
months, is serene and delightful. There is scarcely any rain throughout
this time, yet the face of the country is kept fresh and verdant by
nightly dews, and occasionally by humid fogs in the mornings. These are
not considered prejudicial to health, since both the natives and the
whites sleep in the open air with perfect impunity. While this equable
and bland temperature prevails throughout the lower country, the peaks
and ridges of the vast mountains by which it is dominated, are covered
with perpetual snow. This renders them discernible at a great distance,
shining at times like bright summer clouds, at other times assuming the
most aerial tints, and always forming brilliant and striking features
in the vast landscape. The mild temperature prevalent throughout the
country is attributed by some to the succession of winds from the
Pacific Ocean, extending from latitude twenty degrees to at least fifty