(^ortrell Httrowattg Slibranj Htljara, Ncm fjark CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1916 Cornell University Library F 868.S232H7 The Channel islands of California;a book 3 1924 023 561 750 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023561750 &£tj/frfzt*r~- THE CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA O - THE CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA A BOOK FOR THE ANGLER, SPORTSMAN, AND TOURIST BY CHARLES FREDERICK HOLDER Author of "The Log op a Sea Angles, " "Big Game at Sea," Etc. WITH NEARLY 150 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS, AND U MAPS CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1910 CoPTBIGHT A. C. McCltjrg & Co. 1910 Published, May 21, 1910 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England THE • PLIMPTON • PBESS NOBWOOD • MASS • U • S • A PREFACE IT will probably be very difficult to find any one in America or England, fond of true manly sports, who has not heard of the leaping tuna and its home, the Channel Islands of the Pacific Coast, which, like chalices of emeralds, are strung along the coast of California approximately from latitude 31 to 35°. The region corresponds to that of the Mediterranean — Southern France, Spain, Italy, and Cairo — and to Charleston and Northern Florida on the Atlantic Coast. It has all the appearance, with its palms and semitropic verdure, of the tropics, yet it has not a trop- ical climate, the winters being cool and bracing, and the summers cooler than any seashore region on the Atlantic Coast south of Nova Scotia. What Madeira, the Riviera, and the Azores are to Europe, the Channel Islands of California have become to the United States, a great national playground vis- ited annually by an army of pleasure-seekers and trav- ellers not only from this country, but from all over the world — a contingent which will be augmented many fold as years go by, when the Isthmus Canal is opened, and yachts and other vessels can easily reach this coast. Nowhere, so far as known, at least not within two and a half hours from a city of three hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, such as Los Angeles, can be found islands with a semitropic yet bracing climate, vi PREFACE affording the remarkable diversities of sport found here. Several of the islands belong to the Government. One of the largest of these, San Clemente, which has the reputation of possessing the most remarkable sea- angling in the world, is practically a national fish and game preserve, dominated by the same principles of conservation included in the Roosevelt and Pinchot policies. The perfect climate, in all probability, does not exist, but these isles of summer are wild flower gardens when the East is snow-bound, and, winter and sum- mer, are great national playgrounds of the people. In winter one may bask in mild yet bracing air, and in summer find life in the open, with semitropical sur- roundings, yet without extreme heat or humidity. This cannot be better illustrated than by saying that from May to October, or for six months, the idler, angler, golfer, sportsman, or health-seeker will not experience a squall or rainstorm — comfortable, beautiful days following one another. The islands have the climatic charm of the Riviera, without its summer heat; the delights of its winters, without the cold winds which sweep down from the Maritime Alps. It is difficult to explain the climates of Southern California, but it may interest the credu- lous reader of prefaces, that, as these lines are written, the twenty-second of December, 1909, in Pasadena, — where the climate is practically that of the islands though colder — I can see the violets and roses through the open door. The heliotrope, in full bloom, reaches higher than my window; the guavas are ripening in the sun, and poinsettias and other plants are a blaze of color. Everything speaks of summer, yet in just PREFACE vii about one hour, by ordering a sleigh by telephone, I can indulge in this Eastern pastime on the slopes of the snow-capped Sierra Madre, four or five miles away, and a mile above the sea. While the islands afford various sports — golf, coach- ing, hunting, mountain climbing, and diversion for the botanist and archaeologist, their fame has been made by the extraordinary sea-angling with rod and reel, the region being, apparently, the meeting-ground of many great game fishes caught nowhere else, and many indigenous to the locality. Here is the leaping tuna, the long-finned tuna, the yellow-fin, the white sea bass, the leaping swordfish that jumps and outfights the tarpon, the yellowtail and many more, any one of which would make any place famous, and to catch some of which, scores of anglers cross the Atlantic and continent yearly. In the present volume I have made no attempt to exhaust the subject. Technical papers relating to the antiquities, the flora, and fauna can be found in the publications of the National Museum and various scientific societies, as the Channel Islands have been visited and examined by eminent specialists in various branches of science, the botanical, biological, and eth- nological conditions being more than remarkable. Here are plants and land animals of species found nowhere else. Here are the remains of a great and powerful barbaric civilization, a people with arts and intellectual graces, which have been swept away like the fog flecks before a gale. Here are islands in their full glory — some being blown into the sea, others, again, beaten down and just below the surface, deep in the embrace of ocean forests. viii PREFACE I have endeavored to present a clear picture of some of the pastimes and delights of this great playground, and I can wish the sport-loving reader no better luck than that sometime he or she may, with the lightest tackle, troll for the tuna, yellowtail, or sea bass on these azure seas. Parts of some of these chapters have been published in "McClure's Magazine," "The Century," "The Badminton" of London, "Outing," "Recreation," "The Geographical Magazine," and "Scientific Amer- ican." For certain data regarding the birds of the island, I am indebted to Professor Joseph Grinnell and Mr. Gaylord, of the Pasadena Academy of Sciences. My thanks are also due to Dr. W. S. Tangier Smith, of the University of California, for data contained in his "Topographical Study of the Islands of California," and to Mr. L. P. Streeter, Mr. T. McD. Potter, Mr. Alfred L. Beebe, and the Hon. C. G. Conn, for facts relating to their remarkable catches. C. F. H. Pasadena, Cal. December 22, 1909. CONTENTS PAGE Chapter I The Channel Islands i Chapter II The Discoveries of Cabrillo and Vizcaino 8 Chapter HI The Log of Cabrillo 19 Chapter IV The Ancient Islanders 27 Chapter V The Isle of Summer 36 Chapter VI Incidents in Tuna Fishing 50 Chapter VII The Tuna Club and its Branches 73 Chapter VQI A Remarkable Catch (Black Sea Bass) 102 Chapter IX A Famous Coach Road 112 Chapter X The Small Game Fishes 120 Chapter XI The Island of San Clemente 133 Chapter XII The Birds of the Island 156 Chapter XHI Hunting the Wild Goat 168 iz x CONTENTS PAGE Chapter XIV The Long-Finned Tuna 179 Chapter XV The Ever-changing Island (Anacapa) 185 Chapter XVI The Animals of the Island, 191 Chapter XVII Los Coronados and the Lost Islands 204 Chapter XVIII Ashore at the Wrong Time (the Yellow-Finned Tuna) . 211 Chapter XIX The Sand-dunes of the Islands 224 Chapter XX Gardens of the Sea 231 Chapter XXI A Passing Island (San Nicolds) 242 Chapter XXII The Sea-Lion Rookeries 253 Chapter XXIII The Island of the Sacred Cross (Santa Cruz) . . . . 260 Chapter XXIV Wild Boar Hunting 275 Chapter XXV Around Santa Rosa 282 Chapter XXVI San Miguel 295 Chapter XXVII The Glass-Bottomed Boat 303 Chapter XXVIII The Lost Woman of San Nicolds 313 CONTENTS xi PAGE Chapter XXIX The White Sea Bass 324 Chapter XXX The Amber Fish 335 Chapter XXXI The Tameness of Animals 347 Chapter XXXII The Pearls of the Islands 353 Chapter XXXIII Trades of the Islands 359 Appendix How to Reach the Islands 367 Index 377 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Town of Avalon and Avalon Bay Frontispiece Santa Catalina Island, California. Map showing General Position of the Channel Islands in their Relation to Los Angeles i The Silver Fog Pouring down the Island Mountains, Santa Cataltna Island 4 The Smallest of the Channel Islands 5 White Rock, off Cabrillo — Cabrillo's Arch, of Anacapa — The Sphinx {Church Rock), off Santa Catalina — Chimney Island, San Cle- mente — Ship Rock. Map of California, Showing the Channel Islands 14 Made in 16 $6, evidently from Cabrillo's log. Map of Santa Catalina Island in Santa Catalina Channel . . 28 Pebble Beach, Santa Catalina Island . . ... -32 Little Harbor, South Coast, Santa Catalina Island 33 Picturesque Rocks 40 Sugar Loaf Rock, Avalon Bay — The Basaltic Rock, Santa Clemente , Island. The Town of Avalon 41 Showing Greek Theatre. Glass-Bottomed Boats 46 Small and Large. The Bah Catchers of Santa Catalina Island 47 Hauling seine for sardines — Vincente the Venetian hauling seine for bait. A Big Hammerhead 52 Caught with rod and reel by Mr. Paine — Mexican Joe, boatman. Fish of the Channel Islands 53 A tuna in position as it returns from a leap eight or ten feet in air after a flying-fish — Flying-fish. Tackle used by the Tuna Club, Santa Catalina Island . . 58 Tuna Reels 59 Showing two brakes — Showing handle side. xiii •- xiv ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Angling Map of Santa Catalina Island Group 62 Showing Location of fishing grounds. The Tuna Club, Santa Catalina Island 74 Showing Avalon in the background. The Tuna Club, Avalon 75 Santa Catalina Island, California. Group or Tuna Club Trophies 80 Tuna Club Trophies 81 The Montgomery Cup— The T. McD. Potter Three-Six Cup. Experiments in Angling 104 The strike — Waiting for the strike — Mr. A. L. Beebe goes aboard his launch — Weighing the fish — Gaffing the big black sea bass. Successful Sea-Anglers 105 Big yettowlail taken by Mr. A . L. Beebe and Mr. Eunt — Gifford Pinchol gaffing yellowtail. A Lady's Catch 108 Black sea bass, 416 pounds, taken with rod and reel by Mrs. A . W. Barrett, Jim Gardner, gaffer. Gifford Pinchot Fishing for Black Sea Bass and for Bonito, Mexican Joe, Boatman iog The Coach Road 116 Fifty miles long — leading to Cabrillo Mountains and to West End. The Fleet of Small Glass-Bottomed Boats 117 Avalon Bay, Santa Catalina Island. Sport and Sportsmen at the Channel Islands 122 Whitefish — Gifford Pinchot and Mexican Joe watching Stewart Edward White land rock bass — Gifford Pinchot playing bonito — White, Pinchot, and Holder at Camp Pinchot, San Clemente, igog. Rock Bass and "Mermatd'' 123 Tunas and Yellowtail 126 Long-finned tuna (45 pounds) — Yellow-fin tuna (80 pounds) — Yellow- tail or amber fish (80 pounds). Great Game Fishes 127 Oceanic bonito — Female sheepshead (from life) — Bonito or skipjack. Map of San Clemente Island on San Clemente Channel . . . 134 Scenes on San Clemente Island 140 Going up Cave CaHon — Cactus Cation. Snake Cactus Canon, San Clemente Island 141 Don Lorenzo, Charles Howland, and Bert Velazquez, a Famous Rough Rider 144 ILLUSTRATIONS xv PAGE Wild Scenery on San Clemente Island 145 The canon of Camp Pinchol — Point Diablo trail — A goal-hunter's trail. The Double Cave 152 San Clemente Island. The Island Caves 153 Great Cave of V aides, Santa Cruz Island — Great Cave of San Clemente Island. Sport at the Channel Islands 164 Sen. Flint playing a thirty-pounder with 3-6 tackle — Gov. Pardee's record black sea bass (279 pounds — 67 seconds) — Gov. Pardee of California at San Clemente Island. Sea-angling with Light Tackle at San Clemente Island ... 165 Gifford Pinchot playing a large fish — Sen. Flint's big yellowtail — Gov. Pardee of California and his bending rod — Gifford Pinchot and Stewart Edward White have strikes — Gifford Pinchot as Patience — Sen. Flint and Stewart Edward White toasting the big yellowtail (in tea). A Yellow-pinned Tuna 182 Played and brought to gajf by Mr. T. S. Manning. Mr. T. S. Manning Playing a Yellowtail 183 Angling Map of Santa Barbara Islands 188 Showing Location of fishing grounds. The Island Fox 192 Big Basking Shark of Santa Catalina 193 Towed into port by Capt. George Michaelis. Maps of Los Coronados, Anacapa Island, and Santa Barbara Island 206 Tuna Club Light-Tackle Experts 218 Gaffing the yellowtail — Lieut. Pation landing a yellowtail (over twenty pounds) with six-ounce rod — Lieut. George S. Patton, Mr. Shaver, and Mr. Warren playing 30-pound long-finned tunas on 3-6 tackle — Mr. Ormsby Phillips playing 25-pound yellowtail with 3-6 tackle. Scenes in Avalon Bay 219 The boatmen's pier — Photographing a catch — Mexican Joe — Throw- ing out the long-finned tunas. The Sand-dunes of San Clemente 226 The Surface of a San Clemente Sand-dune Covered with Small Snail Shells 227 Map of San Nicolas Island 244 Glass-Bottomed Boats and Sea-Lion Rocks, Santa Catalina Island 256 XVI ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE 257 ■Paper 262 266 267 284 290 291 296 306 3°7 The Tame Sea-Lions and Gulls of Santa Catalina . . "Old Ben" coming ashore. Map of Santa Cruz Island in Santa Barbara Channel . The Painted Cave and Cueva Valdez, Santa Cruz Island Coast and Canon Views about Santa Cruz Island . . Map op Santa Rosa Island on Santa Barbara Channel Specimens on the Ocean Floor Crayfish — Sea hare — Deep sea crab. Giant Starfish, Upper and Lower Surfaces . . . Map of San Miguel Island in Santa Barbara Channel Strange Animals of the Channel Islands .... Salpa (luminous) — Young perch — Black jelly-fish — Santa Catalina turtle — Pteropod (luminous) — Giant sea anemone nautilus. Curious Marine Creatures of the Channel Islands Giant jelly-fish — Rare glass sponge — Paper nautilus. San Nicolas Island 316 Home of the Lost Woman. Anacapa Island, the Ever-Changing 317 White Sea Bass 326 Taken by Mr. C. G. Conn, Gulf of California. Record Rod and Reel Swordfish Catch — 339 Pounds . . . 327 By Mr. C. G. Conn, Elkart, Ind. Playing and Gaffing the Leaping Tuna 332 Catch of Mr. C. G. Conn, taken after a four-hour play. Tuna Club Medals 333 The Coronado Islands 340 Of San Diego and Coronado Beach. The Face of Coronado . •. 341 Coronado Islands. Gems and Pearls of the Channel Islands 354 The Twin Arches, Santa Cruz Islands 355 Devil Fish Crouching for a Leap 360 Scene in the Kelp Beds 361 THE CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA CHAPTER I THE CHANNEL ISLANDS TO those who "go down to the sea in ships" on the Southern California coast, the islands, which are strung along the shores from fog- swept San Miguel, near Point Concepcion, to Los Coronados, appear like off-shore Sierras. When the coast range of California was thrust up, and the great sea bottom became Los Angeles, there was, in all probability, a general upheaval all along the coast, and another Sierra endeavored to take shape and form about eighteen miles out at sea. We have the evidence of this attempt (though the matter of time may be in doubt) in the summits of these several islands, which rise suddenly and pre- cipitously from exceedingly deep water, often five thousand feet, and range in size from Santa Barbara Rock, of a few acres, Begg's Rock, of less, to Santa Catalina, which is twenty-two miles long and contains over fifty thousand acres. In a general way, the islands extend southeast, and have a northern and southern exposure, with an east and a west end. Yet good harbors are rare, most of them being mere inden- tations in the coast, or the mouths of large and deep canons, cut by the rains of centuries, against which l 2 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA the ocean has thrown up sand and pebble beaches — which make eternal music — the castanets of the sea. There are about twenty of these islands or moun- tain tops. Some are but a few hundred feet high; others, like San Clemente and Santa Catalina, have peaks from five hundred feet to half a mile in height, forming -mountains of the sea, rising from the abysmal regions about them. If we could imagine the sea suddenly withdrawn they would take shape as mar- vellous mountains rising from the continental slopes that drop down into the depths of the Pacific, which average three and a half miles. The islands are just near enough to the shore to afford an agreeable diversion in reaching them. Sev- eral are government possessions, and belong to the people; while others again are private property, the owners of which have a sentimental interest in them, and use them for the primitive purposes of cattle ranch- ing, as Santa Rosa; grape growing, Santa Cruz; sheep ranching, San Clemente and Anacapa. As to Santa Catalina, most of its vast acreage is a sheep ranch and wild goat range, with one canon at the east end, given over to the public, and literally filled by the attractive town of Avalon, with a summer population of seven or eight thousand, and a good- sized winter permanent contingent, attracted and kept here by the really wonderful climate, the lack of change, and the ideal conditions which prevail, where the elements are at rest and the disagreeable things of life at their minimum. The islands all differ in some way, and have differ- ent climates, and each island has several kinds of THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 3 climates. Thus, Avalon Bay rarely r if ever, experi- ences frost. I have seen very fair bananas grown here. The summer is cool, and the winter but slightly cooler; yet in February, in two hours' climb, one may reach Middle Ranch, where there is frost on cold nights. Again, the north side of the island is free from winds — a place of calms, so that its waters have the charm of an inland lake; yet a ride around the island to the southwest coast brings you to a region where the surf piles in, and the strong west wind makes itself felt a part of the time. At the Santa Barbara Islands, somewhat similar conditions obtain. Santa Cruz, in particular, is finely wooded for a California island, and abounds in many attractive features. The climate of the group is diffi- cult to describe; one is drawn illusively into over- praising it. With a prejudiced bias perhaps, after twenty-four years among the islands, summer and winter, that I may not draw the long bow, I confine myself to the figures of the government station at the Tuna Club, Avalon, and to records by expert observers at all the islands. Yet mere figures do not tell the story. I can, per- haps, give the best suggestion of midwinter at these islands by saying that it is like an Eastern October, if you can imagine the flowers in bloom, the islands rich in green. The air is cool, bracing, and sometimes sharp; a fire may be, in fact is, comfortable at night, and one needs Eastern winter attire. At times it seems really cold, yet the hills are draped with ineffable greens, the rich red of the heteromeles berries flashes in the sun, and, in the little gardens on the hillside of Avalon, the rose, jessamine, sweet pea, and all the 4 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA delicate flowers bloom in the bright sunlight. Palms of various kinds lend a tropical air; groups of eucalyp- tus trees fill some of the canons of Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina, suggesting the warm climes of Australia; yet it is winter on the islands, and, in default of a better name, it is called the "rainy season," though the entire fall of the year is but one-third of that of the city of New York. The rain is expected in November, but some years does not come until January, and is often not sufficient for the purpose of starting into life the ver- dure that paints the slopes, in a winter of full rains, when the fall is eighteen or twenty inches. The rains frequently come at night. They are experienced less at the outside islands, as San Clemente and San Nico- las. There is greater moisture at the northern ones, as San Miguel, and, strange to relate, though bathed with fog, it is really the most deserted and sandy. San Miguel lies farthest west. Then come Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and the Anacapas — these consti- tuting the Santa Barbara group, with San Nicolas well offshore. In the Santa Catalina channel, opposite Los Angeles, lies Santa Barbara Rock, Santa Catalina, and San Clemente, known as the Santa Catalina group, all about one hundred miles from Santa Barbara. Another stretch of about one hundred miles to the south, and we come to Los Coronados, five in number, and off to the west the submerged remains of two islands — Tanner's Bank and the Shoal of Cortez. All have this winter of semitropic verdure in varying degree. San Nicolas is very windy; while for days it lies in calm seas, bathed in the rays of the warm sun, the wind gods are only sleeping. THE SILVER FOG POURING DOWN THE ISLAND MOUNTAINS, SANTA CATALINA ISLAND THE SMALLEST OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS White Rock, off Cabrillo — Cabrillo's Arch, off Amu- a pa — The Sphinx (Church Rock), off Santa Calalina — Chimney Island, San Clcmcntc — Ship Rock THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 5 The winter among the islands really lasts from the first rain until a few weeks after the last; or from December until April. Then the sun grows warmer, the verdure produced by rain, such as the grasses, dies down, but the bushes — the chaparral with which most of the islands abound — are always green. The days grow warmer, the average for summer being 65 ; that of winter 54° — the difference of eleven degrees being, in itself, a climatic feature to attract attention. The so-called trade wind now becomes fixed, blowing every day and giving a continual cooling breeze to all the coast. Fogs may be expected. They form out beyond the islands somewhere, and may be seen com- ing in, in long attenuated streamers and banners, as night comes on, fining up the valleys of the coast with great tumultuous seas — a splendid sight from the top of the Sierras, the islands, or the mainland. Without these fogs, California would be a teeming desert. They are enjoyed and welcomed by the people; they mean life and comfort, and when they cease, in Sep- tember or October, for a short time warm weather may be experienced. But so finely, so evenly, is this adjusted by nature, that the uncomfortable days are rarely more than two or three at a time, and two such "hot spells" in a summer, at these islands or along-shore, are considered strange and abnormal. It is for this reason that the claim has been made that this region — and with the islands I include the mainland shores for thirty or so miles inland — is as nearly perfect, climatically, as one can find in the world. It is not perfect in the strict sense of the term — such a place does not exist — but it has more advantages, 6 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA and less disagreeable features, than any country I know or have heard of. I was standing at Avalon Bay once, when a singular cloud appeared. A tourist remarked that we were going to have a thunderstorm. "Oh, no," I replied, "they never have anything of the kind here." Almost immediately a bolt of Kghtning struck the building and literally scattered the shingles at our feet. That was the first thunderstorm I had known here in eighteen years, and in twenty-four years in Southern California, I doubt if I have seen more than four or five electric storms where lightning struck nearer than five miles. The Spaniards discovered the islands, and in those early days — 1542 — they were all inhabited. That existence was easily maintained is evident to-day in the extraordinary wealth of animal life. The waters swarm with shell fish, tons of abalones (Haliotis), which constituted the principal food of the aborigines, being taken. Fishes of varied kinds are found every- where, and the big game fishes, taken with rod and reel, made the islands famous years ago, and they are now the Mecca of sportsmen and anglers from all over the world. The angling is so remarkable that it is difficult to convince the stranger and layman that it is not a joke; yet the evidence is found from Santa Barbara to San Diego all alongshore. All the islands are bathed by the mysterious Black Current of Japan — the Japanese Gulf Stream, the Kuro Shiwo — which sweeps up that coast from the south, crosses to Alaska, then flows down the CaUfor- nian coast. It is incomprehensible to many that this current does not produce the balmy climate of the Channel Islands in winter, and the always cool and THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 7 delightful days of summer, yet the professional meteo- rologist who prognosticates the weather tells us that the Kuro Shiwo has nothing to do with it, the great expanse of the ocean being the moderator. But there is such a thing as being too climatically scientific, especially with the weather, and I confess it is much more interesting to believe that the Kuro Shiwo modi- fies the climate, gives the entire Pacific Coast its iceless winters, and a climate that has all the charm of the Riviera without its chill, all the beauty of Madeira without its heat. CHAPTER II THE DISCOVERIES OF CABRILLO AND VIZCAINO IT is my private opinion that the Japanese dis- covered the Channel Islands — or it may have been the Chinese — though this is rank heresy in California, as Cabrillo is the patron saint of dis- covery. I cannot forget a map of the Pacific Ocean, which Professor A. S. Bickmore (the founder of the American Museum of Natural History) made some years ago, in which he displayed the latitude and longi- tude of the Chinese junks which had been blown off- shore and picked up during heavy gales in recent years. They were located all over the Pacific, some very near our shores. The record could not have been over fifty years old, so I assume that the Chinese, Japanese, and others, have been in the habit of being blown off- shore for ages, and that many reached this country in this way, or by the Aleutian Islands, and may have been the forefathers of the Indians of this coast, not to speak of the Eskimos. If one has the opportunity, it is interesting to compare a mixed lot of Japanese faces with Eskimos, and a similar collection of Chinese coolie (Canton) faces with those of our west coast Indians. The comparison is suggestive, if it has no other value. But whether the Chinese or the Japanese discovered the islands, the Spanish, the splendid voyageurs of the last centuries, claim it, and Captain Juan Rodriguez DISCOVERIES OF CABRILLO AND VIZCAINO 9 Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain, is accorded the honor. A number of years ago, some one was hunting over the old manuscripts of a public library of Madrid, and, with the very best of luck for a landsman, came upon the log of Don Juan Cabrillo. He sent it to our Government, hence I am able to quote some of it, or that part relating to the alluring islands of the chan- nels of Santa Barbara and Santa Catalina. Cabrillo — who, to my knowledge, has not even a statuette in California, much less a bust large enough to rest on a pedestal, to the sorrow of some of the people — was a gentleman of the sixteenth century, who, in 1542, accepted the service of his august majesty, Charles of Castile and Aragon, and sailed for America, to add by conquest, or peaceful acquirement, lands of any kind, and souls. He reported to Don Antonio de Mendoza, who was then Viceroy of New Spain, and became one of the many believers in the mythical "Straits of Anian," supposed to be far up the coast and to lead the navigator around into the Atlantic. So firmly was this idea intrenched in the minds of the navigators of that time, that it becomes more than a suspicion that some data allied to fact must have been behind it. We are prone to forget, in our theo- rizing, that the earth is old, that man has lived tens of thousands of years — millions, more than likely — and that while the Pacific Coast was not known to the Spaniards or the Britons, other nations had doubtless sailed its waters, found Bering Strait, and wandered into the Arctic and become Eskimos, countless ages ago. And so the "Strait of Anian" idea may have come down the ages, founded on Bering Strait. 10 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA Be this as it may, in the sixteenth century the Span- iards had heard of it from some one and were intent upon finding it, as were the many martyrs to the pole. That gallant gentleman, Cortez — the Columbus of the Pacific — had equipped several expeditions before Cabrillo, and as early as 1522 had established a ship- yard as a base of supplies at Zacatula, Mexico. One of bis caravals, under Pedro Nunez Maldonado, reached the Sandiago River in 1528. Nufio de Guz- man reached San Miguel, on the coast of Sinaloa, and in 1532 Cortez, for whom the Gulf of California was named and should be called, sent north from Aca- pulco two ships under Diego Hurtando de Mendoza, and Juan de Maznela. Hurtando discovered the harbor of Tobari, near the mouth of the Yaqui — which I know well — marched up into the interior, and explored the delta of the Yaqui, one of the richest lands not only in Sonora, but in all Mexico. He was wrecked in the Sea of Cortez. Another of the men of Cortez, Fortunio Ximines, is said to have discovered the peninsula of Lower California, and many old maps tell an inter- esting story of the energy and gallant qualities of these men. In 1535 Cortez sent a new fleet north, and La Paz was gained to the map-makers of his Majesty of Castile and Aragon. We now first hear of the name California and for years after it was supposed to be an island. In 1539 an old captain of Cortez, one Francisco de Ulloa, reached up the coast as far as Cerros Island before he was forced back. And so the fight for the north went on, until the time of Cabrillo, who, in 1542, made the first successful trip up the coast as far as DISCOVERIES OP CABRILLO AND VIZCAINO 11 the Channel Islands off the present counties of Los Angeles, San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara, Orange, and San Diego, leaving to posterity an account of his travels under the title of "Viaje y descubrimientos hasta el grado 43 de Latitud," to be found in the "Archivio General de Indias," of Spain. The Log of Cabrillo has a sentimental interest, and when it is known that the vessels of the time were little more than smacks, and by no means seaworthy, and that part of the coast was waterless and barren in summer, the efforts of all the navigators, and of the good padres who accompanied them, are deserving of the highest recognition and honor. California was discovered only after repeated losses of ships and men, and the "king's highway" of the Pacific is paved alongshore with good Spanish ships, as well as with good Catholic intentions. Cabrillo sailed into what is now Avalon Bay, Santa Catalina Island, in September, 1542, four hundred and sixty-seven years ago. His caravels, which were named La Vittoria and San Salvador, cruised about the vicinity for a number of months. Cabrillo dying, he was buried at San Miguel Island, though why he should winter in such a dreary place, when the land- locked harbor of Santa Catalina afforded perfect pro- tection, and San Diego was not far away with a perfect refuge, it is difficult to understand. Cabrillo named San Clemente Island "La Vittoria," and Santa Cata- lina, "San Salvador," after his ships; but these names were forgotten, and the present names were given by Vizcaino many years later. Ferrelo was the pilot of Cabrillo, and Juan Paez is the name found on the Log; hence it is possible that he may have written it. The 12 CHANNEL ISLANDS OP CALIFORNIA famous Log is complete from the time of sailing, but it is very voluminous, hence only that part relating to the Channel Islands is quoted. It gives an excellent and interesting illustration of the style and methods of the valiant geographers of the sixteenth century, and while there is some uncertainty as to the exact locations intended, the navigator of the Pacific Coast to-day, or the layman familiar with the islands, readily recognizes the places referred to in the quaintly worded Log. It is interesting to compare the old maps of Cali- fornia made by the navigators, explorers, priests, and soldiers from the time of Cabrillo, in which are pic- tured the Channel Islands. All show some or all of them, and some so very many, and with so great uncertainty about the descriptions, that one can well imagine that Tanner's Bank and that of Cortez (see Chapter XVII) might then have been above water, or that within four hundred and fifty years, islands which then existed, have disappeared. There is no good reason for believing this, and the islands of the coast of California have, doubtless, not mate- rially moved up or down for thousands of years. On one old map, of 1670, the coast line is fairly correct below Point Concepcion. The great indentation of Santa Barbara is shown, and the islands of San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Anacapa. San Nicolas is given a fairly accurate position, and Santa Catalina ("I. S. Cathalina") is drawn as perfectly as though done to-day; but San Clemente is swollen out of all proportion, doubtless being described from hearsay. Between San Clemente and the mainland, the map- maker inserted four small islands which are not known DISCOVERIES OF CABRILLO AND VIZCAINO 13 to-day, the one to the south being "I. S. Marco." Possibly these were what are now called the Coronado Rocks. Below this was a vast island, " I. de Parraros." On the mainland this interesting map shows New Mexico and Zuni, Acoma, Cibola, Moqui, and other Indian towns, many hundreds of miles to the south of their correct position, in what is now Mexico. The Gulf of California, on this map, is called "Mare Ver- mero." This is one of the most interesting maps of California, and is remarkably correct when we con- sider the facilities which the early Spaniards had for exploring the coast. A map dated 1787, while crude, is very correct, showing the missions established by Fr. Junipero Serra. The harbor of Ensenada is pictured much larger than that of San Diego, but the general trend of the coast is correctly, though crudely, indicated. When we reach . what is now Los Angeles County, latitude thirty-three and one-half, curiously enough, the islands of Santa Catalina, San Clemente, and San Nicolas are omitted, though at that time they sus- tained a large and vigorous population, well known to the padres. At Santa Barbara but three islands are shown — doubtless San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz. The omission of Santa Catalina, San Clemente, and San Nicolas Islands on the map (1787) is interesting, as they were well known, as shown by the notes in the several histories of this early period. One of the most interesting references to the islands is found in a history of California and the Southwest by Fray Geronimo de Zarate Zalmeron, covering the period from 1538 to 1626. He refers as follows to the arrival of Sebastian Vizcaino: 14 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA "They reached a bay, a good arrangement of the land twelve leagues north, away from the mainland. It is called Isle of Santa Catarina [Santa Catalina]; and before reaching it they espied another greater one, southwest of this of Santa Catarina. The inhabitants of the island made great rejoicings over the arrival of the Spaniards. They are fishermen, using boats of boards; the prows and poops high and the middle very low. Some will hold more than twenty persons. There are many sea-lions, the which the Indians hunt for food; and with the tanned skins they all cover themselves, men and women, and it is their usual protection. The women are very handsome and decent. The children are white and ruddy, and very smiling. Of these Indians, many wished to come with the Spaniards; they are so loving as all this. From here follows a line of islands, straight and orderly, at four to six leagues from one to another. The length of all these islands is one hundred leagues. All have communication with one another, and also with the mainland." An interesting map shows the exact route of Fran- cisco Vasquez Coronado (a friend and confidant of Antonio de Mendoza, first viceroy of Spain), on his famous expedition to the "seven cities." There were two hundred picked mounted lancers, many in armor; and in the train were a thousand men of various nation- alities; and all in all, over one thousand horses — a splendid force for the time (1540). Coronado had been led to make the expedition by rumors of vast wealth in the alleged "seven cities" of Cibola, which were supposed to be the depositories of vast stores of gold and silver. What the feelings of Coronado were when he found the famous "seven cities" to be mere adobe pueblos, undoubtedly like those of Zufii to-day, can better be imagined than described. After a fierce engagement he captured Cibola-Zufii, and, finding nothing of value but corn, he continued on to the ^K^N** N U "E V O fj^^l \ \J ■ r MEX1C O j^P*Vj^t 7^7, ,^T f" ( .D-E AaV l.^bL'... -Jjr \.« ^. 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From the natives, Coronado heard of other cities, and, loath to relinquish the search for gold, traversed a large area of country reaching about forty degrees north latitude, or South Nebraska, between Leaven- worth and Omaha. A portion of his expedition reached the location of El Paso, Texas, and, after examining a large area, and really accomplishing much as a geographer — marching over untold millions of gold and silver that were to be discovered by the men of the nineteenth century, finding absolutely no wealth, nothing but the squalid towns of natives, and the ancestors of the present Indians — he returned to Mexico in 1542, as the historian says, "very sad and very weary, completely worn out, and shamefaced." The journey of Coronado was in every sense remark- able, and while his search for treasure — a golden fleece, as it were — was fruitless, history will give him place as one of the great travellers and explorers. The natives of Santa Catalina Island, found by Cabrillo when he took possession as the discoverer of California, all had heard of Coronado and his men "with beards." In the years following Cabrillo, the Channel Islands were doubtless visited by many adventurers in search of fame and fortune. Drake, Woods, Shelvocke, Rodgers, and others may have found shelter in the little bay of Avalon, or in the lee of any of the islands 16 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA during the heavy southwesters of the winter season. Of such there is no definite record, although, in making a systematic examination of the ancient burial-places, I found a remarkable assortment of European objects, from large iron implements to Venetian beads and bell clappers, showing that there had been a variety of visitors. In 1598, about sixty years after the voyage of Cabrillo, Philip the Third was King. He had all the desire of his predecessors for conquest, and ordered the Viceroy of New Spain, Caspar de Zuniga Conde de Monterey, to equip an expedition, which sailed from Acapulco under the command of Sebastian Viz- caino, May 5, 1602. The latter was a navigator of great renown, and his title was "Pilot of the waters of New Spain." He had first come up the coast on a search for pearls, in 1595, and landed at La Paz, the great pearl station, where he built a barrack, established his men, and erected a mission, as the adventurers were all good Catholics, and each ship invariably carried a priest, or several, who displayed a devoted spirit and accomplished marvels. The Monterey expedition was sent out to establish a refuge for ships in the Manila trade near Cape Mendocino. His fleet was composed of three vessels, and in his party was the cosmographer, Geronimo Martin. Vizcaino sailed into what is now Avalon Bay, Santa Catalina Island, the twenty-eighth of November, 1602, giving the island the name from the saint day of his arrival, ignoring the native name "Pimugna" and the previous naming of Cabrillo. The latter name, and that of San Clemente (Kinkapar) have held until to-day. DISCOVERIES OF CABRILLO AND VIZCAINO 17 Vizcaino was a notable pilot and made his observa- tions with such care that Humboldt says of him in his "Essai sur le royayme de la Nouvelle Espagne," "No pilot has ever performed his duty with such zeal." After leaving Santa Catalina, Vizcaino discovered Monterey Bay, which he named in honor of the Viceroy. Finding that Vizcaino had been neglected, the author gave his name and that of Cabrillo to a cape and a mountain range, respectively, on Santa Catalina and San Clemente Islands. Vizcaino's two voyages were well recorded in Spain. The first may be found in the "Monarquia Indiana," by Torquemada, Madrid, 1615; and the second, to California, is described in the Appendix to the French Edition of Miguel Venega's "Histoire de la Calif ornie," Paris, 1767, and in Navarrete's work. Vizcaino described the islands, and referred to the natives as a fine race, dressed in skins, and as having large and commodious dwellings, and numerous rancherias. Many of these I have located, it being very evident that Santa Catalina and San Clemente, as well as the other islands, supported a large and vigorous popula- tion three or four centuries ago. He described their boats as large canoes, capable of holding twenty men, and stated that they bartered with the mainland — a fact I have demonstrated by examination of their mounds. Vizcaino also states, that the natives who lived in a town at Avalon Bay showed him some damask cloth, which they said was taken from the wreck of a large ship, doubtless the San Augustin, which sailed, in 1595, on a voyage of discovery up the Californian coast under Cermefion, but was never heard of again. 18 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA Torquemada, a brilliant man, the spiritual adviser of the fleet, has left an account of a temple he observed at Santa Catalina that has caused the island to be well searched, but without avail. The temple, which was devoted to Chinigchinich, consisted of a large cir- cular structure, decorated with feathers. In the centre was a hideous idol which I fear the good fathers at a later day may have destroyed. Just what the idol looked like is not known, but Vizcaino tells us that upon its sides were pictures of the sun and moon. The islands are famous to-day for their ravens, and these birds, according to Torquemada, were sacred, and sacrificed to the god. When Vizcaino's men shot them, the natives were much disturbed. "I believe," says Father Torquemada, "that the Devil was in these crows and spoke through them, for they were regarded with great respect and veneration." He further states, that the birds were so tame that they would snatch fish from the hands of women and chil- dren, who dared not resent the attack. In 1886, when I first knew these islands, these ravens — or their descendants — were the most conspicuous birds, and were extremely tame, sitting around the camps as though resenting intrusion. They made their nests in the cliffs near Avalon, and were very ingenious in stealing the young turkeys and chickens from the ranch of Chicken John, a character of the canon back of Avalon. When the wind blew, I have seen these birds flying along the cliff on the north side of Avalon Bay, one hundred feet up, turning complete somersaults in the air, like tumbler pigeons, though evidently in play. CHAPTER III THE LOG OF CABRTLLO ON the seventeenth of September, 1652, Cabrillo sighted the Coronado Islands, near which is now one of the most beautiful seacoast towns of California. The long beach named for Coronado forms the Bay of San Diego. Quoting from Cabrillo's Log: "Sunday, on the seventeenth of the said month, they set sail to pursue their voyage; and about six leagues from Cabo de la Cruz they found a good port well inclosed; and to arrive there, they passed by a small island which is near the main- land. In this port they obtained water in a little pond of\ rain-water; and there are groves resembling silk-cotton trees,) except that it is a hard wood. They found thick and tall/ trees which the sea brought ashore. This port was called' San Mateo [San Diego Bay]. It is a good country in appear- ance. There are large cabins, and the herbage like that oil' Spain, and the land is high and rugged. They saw herds of animals like flocks of sheep, which went together by the hun- dred or more, which resembled in appearance and movement Peruvian sheep, and with long wool. They have small horns of a span in length and as thick as the thumb, and the tail is broad and round and of the length of a palm. It is in 33 J degrees. They took possession of it. They were in this port until the following Saturday. " Saturday, the twenty-third of the said month, they departed from the said port of San Mateo, and sailed along the coast until the following Monday, in which time they made about eighteen leagues. They saw very beautiful valleys and groves, and a country flat and rough, and they did not see Indians. 19 20 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA "On the Tuesday and Wednesday following, they sailed along the coast about eight leagues, and passed by some three uninhabited islands. One of them is larger than the others, and extends two entire leagues, and forms a shelter from the west winds. They are three leagues from the mainland; they are in 34 degrees. This day they saw on land great signal smokes. It is a good land in appearance, and there are great valleys, and in the interior there are high ridges. They called them Las Islas Desiertas [the Desert Isles]. "The Thursday following they proceeded about six leagues by a coast running north-northwest and discovered a port inclosed and very good, to which they gave the name of San Miguel [San Pedro Bay]. It is in 34$ degrees; and after anchor- ing in it they went on shore, which had people, three of whom remained and all the others fled. To these they gave some presents; and they said by signs that in the interior had passed people like the Spaniards [Coronado]. They manifested much fear. This same day at night they went on shore from the < ships to fish with a net; and it appears that there were here { some Indians, and they began to discharge arrows and wounded J three men. "The next day in the morning they entered further within the port, which is large, with the boat, and brought away two boys, who understood nothing by signs; and they gave them both shirts and immediately sent them away. "And the following day in the morning there came to the ship three large Indians; and by signs they said that there were travelling in the interior men like us, with beards [Coro- nado], and clothed and armed like those of the ships; and they made signs that they carried crossbows and swords, and made gestures with the right arm as if they were throwing lances, and went running in a posture as if riding on horse-back, and made signs that they killed many of the native Indians, and that for this they were afraid. This people are well disposed! and advanced; they go covered with the skins of animals] Being in this port there passed a very great tempest; but on account of the port's being good they suffered nothing [now Los Angeles harbor]. It was a violent storm from the west- southwest and south-southwest. This is the first storm which THE LOG OF CABRILLO 21 they have experienced. They were in this port until the fol- lowing Tuesday. Here Christians were called Guacamal. "The following Tuesday, on the third day of the month of October, they departed from this port of San Miguel; and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday they proceeded on their course about eighteen leagues, fifty-four miles, along the coast, on which they saw many valleys and much level ground and many large smokes, and, in the interior, sierras. They were at dusk near some islands, which are about seven leagues from the mainland; and because the wind was becalmed they could not reach them this night. "Saturday, the seventh day of the month of October, they arrived at tie islands at daybreak, which they named San Salvador [San Clemente] and La Vittoria [Santa Catalina]; and they anchored off one of them; and they went with thel boat on shore to see if there were people there; and as the boat \ came near, there issued a great quantity of Indians from among the bushes and grass, yelling and dancing and making signs that they should come ashore; and they saw that the women were ninning away; and from the boats they made signs that they should have no fear; and immediately they assumed confidence and laid on the ground their bows and arrows; and they launched a good canoe in the water, which held eight or ten Indians, and they came to the ships. They gave them beads and little presents, with which they were delighted, and they presently went away. The Spaniards afterwards went ashore and were very secure, they and the Indian women and all. Here an old Indian made signs to them that on the main- land men were journeying, clothed and with beards like the Spaniards [Coronado]. They were in this island only until noon. "The following Sunday, on the eighth of the said month, they came near the mainland in a great bay, which they named La Bahia de los Fumos [Bahia Ona Bay; recently named Santa Monica Bay] on account of the numerous smokes which they saw upon it. Here they held intercourse with some Indians, whom they took in a canoe, who made signs that towards the north there were Spaniards like them. This bay is in 35 degrees; and it is a good port; and the country is good, with many valleys and plains and trees. 22 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA "The following Monday, on the ninth day of the said month of October, they departed from La Bahia de los Fumos [Santa Monica] and proceeded this day about six leagues, and anchored in a large inlet [laguna near Point Mugu]; and they passed on thence the following day, Tuesday, and proceeded about eight leagues on a coast northwest and southeast; and we saw on the land a village of Indians near the sea and the houses large in the manner of those of New Spain; and they anchored in front of a very large valley on the coast. Here came to the ships many very good canoes, which held in each one twelve or thirteen Indians; and they gave them notice of Christians who were journeying in the interior. The coast is from north- west to southeast. Here they gave them some presents, with which they were much pleased. They made signs that in seven days they could go where the Spaniards were travelling; and Juan Rodriguez was determined to send two Spaniards to the interior. They also made signs that there was a great river [Rio Colorado]. With these Indians they sent a letter at a venture to the Christians. They gave name to this village of 'El Pueblo de las Canoas.' ['The Village of Canoes,' near Buenaventura, 'Pueblo de las Canoas' has usually been iden-. tified with Santa Barbara, but the distance places it below\ that point, while the beautiful valley described certainly does \ not apply to the location of Santa Barbara, which can scarcely '. be said to be in a valley at all. The Santa Clara Valley and • mountains agree exactly with the description.] They go cov- * ered with some skins of animals; they are fishers and eat the \ fish raw; they also eat agaves. This village is in 35J degrees., 1 The country within is a very beautiful valley; and they made » signs that there was in that valley much maize and much food. There appear within this valley some sierras very high, and the land is very rugged. They call the Christians Taqui- mine. Here they took possession; here they remained until Friday, the thirteenth day of the said month. "Friday, the thirteenth day of the said month of October, they departed from Pueblo de las Canoas on their voyage, and proceeded this day six or seven leagues, and passed two large islands [Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands], which extend four leagues each one, and are four leagues from the continent. THE LOG OF CABRILLO 28 c They are uninhabited, because there is no water in them [the account is doubtless in error here; these islands must be iden- tical with others mentioned farther on as inhabited]; and they have good] ports. The coast of the mainland runs west-north- west; the country is level, with many cabins and trees; and the following Saturday they continued on their course, and pro- ceeded two leagues, no more; and they anchored opposite a valley very beautiful and very populous, the land being level with many trees. Here came canoes with fish to barter; they i remained great friends. • "And the Sunday following, the fifteenth day of the said month, they held on their voyage along the coast about ten leagues; and there were always many canoes, for all the coast is very populous; and many Indians were continually coming aboard the ships; and they pointed out to us the villages, and named them by their names, which are Xucu, Bis, Sopono, Alloc, Xabaagua, Xotococ, Potoltuc, Nacbuc, Quelqueme, Misinagua, Misesopano, Elquis, Coloc, Mugu, Xagua, Anac- buc, Partocac, Susuquey, Quanmu, Gua, Asimu, Aguin, Casalic, Tucumu, Incpupu. All these villages extend from the first, Pueblo de las Canoas, which is called Xucu, as far as this place; they are in a very good country, with very good plains and. many trees and cabins; they go clothed with skins; they said that inland there were many towns, and much maize at three ! days' distance; they call the maize oep; and also that there were • many cows [elk]. They call the cows, axe; they also gave us ' notice of some people with beards and clothed. They passed. this day along the shore of a large island which is fifteen leagues' in length; and they said that it was very populous, and that ' it contained the following villages: Niquipos, Maxul, Xugua, Nitel, Macamo, Nimitopal. They named the island San Lucas [Santa Rosa Island]; it is from this place to Pueblo de las Canoas eighteen leagues; the island is from the continent six leagues. "Monday, the sixteenth day of the said month, sailing along the coast, they proceeded four leagues, and anchored in the evening opposite two villages [Dos Pueblos]; and also this day canoes were continually coming to the ships; and they made signs that further on there were canoes much larger. 24 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA "The Tuesday following, the seventeenth day of the said month, they proceeded three leagues with fair weather; and there were with the ship from daybreak many canoes; and the Captain continually gave them many presents; and all thisj coast where they have passed is very populous; they brought t them a large quantity of fresh sardines very good; they say- that inland there are many villages and much food; these did! not eat any maize; they went clothed with skins, and wear' their hair very long and tied up with cords very long and placed within the hair; and these strings have many small daggers attached of flint and wood and bone [many of which were exca- vated by the survey party in 1875, from the graves]. The land is very excellent in appearance. "Wednesday, the eighteenth day of the said month, they went running along the coast until ten o'clock, and saw all the coast populous; and, because a fresh wind sprung up, canoes did not come. They came near a point which forms a cape like a galley, and they named it Cabo de Galera [Point Con- cepcion], and it is in a little over 36 degrees; and because there was a fresh northwest wind they stood off from the shore and discovered two islands, the one large, which has 8 leagues of coast running east and west [Santa Rosa], but with only 5 leagues of coast running as described; the other has 4 leagues [San Miguel], with only 2 leagues, and in this small one there is a good port [Cuyler's Harbor], and they are peopled; they are 10 leagues from the continent; they are called Las Islas de San Lucas. [The name is here applied to but two islands, but subsequently the whole group appears to have been thus designated.] From the mainland to Cabo de Galera it runs west by northeast; and from Pueblo de las Canoas to Cabo de Galera there is a very populous province, and they call it Xexu; it has many languages different from each other; they have many great wars with each other; it is from El Pueblo de las Canoas to El Cabo de Galera 30 leagues; they were in these islands until the following Wednesday, because it was very stormy. "Wednesday, the twenty-fifth of the said month, they departed from the said islands, from the one which was more to the windward; it has a very good port, so that from all the THE LOG OF CABRILLO 25 storms of the sea no damage will be suffered by those within its shelter; they called it La Posesion [San Miguel previously, with Santa Rosa, called Las Islas de San Lucas]. "Thursday, on the twenty-third day of the month, they approached on a backward course the islands of San Lucas [the group, collectively, here meant], and one of them named La Posesion [San Miguel]; and they ran along all the coast, point by point, from El Cabo de Pinos to them, and they found no harbor, so that of necessity they had to return to the said island, on account of having these days a very high west- northwest wind, and the swell of the sea was very great. From Cabo de Martin to Cabo de Pinos we saw no Indians, because of the coast's being bold and without harbor and rugged; and on the southeast side of Cabo de Martin for 15 leagues they found the country inhabited, and many smokes, for the land) is good; but from El Cabo de Martin as far as to 40 degrees \ we saw no sign of Indians. El Cabo de San Martin is in 37^ degrees. "While wintering in this Isla de Posesion [San Miguel], on j the third day of January, 1543, departed from this present ' life Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, captain of the said ships, from a fall which he had on the same island at the former time when they were there, by which he broke an arm near the shoulder. He left for captain the chief pilot, who was one Bartolome Ferrel, a native of the Levant; and he charged them much at the time of his death that they should not give up the dis- covery, as far as possible, of all that coast. They named the island La Isla de Juan Rodriguez [Cabrillo]. The Indians call this island Liquimuymu, and another they call Nicalque, and the other they call Limu. In this island De la Posesion there are two villages; the one is called Zaco and the other Nimollollo. On one of the other islands there are three vil- lages; one they call Nichochi, and another Coycoy, and the other Estocoloco. On the other island there are eight villages, which are, Miquesesquelua, Poele, Pisqueno, Pualnacatup, Patiquiu, Patiquilid, Ninumu, Muoc, Pilidquay, Lilibeque. [The sites of many of these have been examined by the author.] "The Indians of these islands are very poor. They arei fishermen; they eat nothing but fish; they sleep on the ground;! «6 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA all their business and employment is to fish. In each house ! they say there are fifty souls. They live very swinishly; they ! go naked. They were in these islands from the twenty-third j of November to the nineteenth of January. In all this time, which was almost two months, there were very hard wintry storms on the land and sea. The winds which prevailed most, were west-southwest, and south-southwest, and west-northwest. The weather was very tempestuous." CHAPTER IV THE ANCIENT ISLANDERS WHEN I first visited the island of Santa Cata- lina, the vicinity of the Hotel Metropole, was represented by a spot so black that it could be seen a long way offshore. It was a "kitchen midden," a deposit on which the aborigines had lived for ages, cooking on it, and having their camp-fires, until the soil was thoroughly blackened. In this were buried their household belongings of stone and sheU. When a trench is dug in any part of Avalon to-day, especially along the north beach, shells, implements, and ancient human bones are often found, and the black earth crops out, telling the story of one of the most interesting ancient archaeological treasure-houses in America. Literally tons of mortars, pestles, and implements of various kinds were taken from here in the seventies. Professor Schumacker of the Smith- sonian Institution first investigated the island in the early seventies, and, with "Mexican Joe" as skilled excavator, found a vast treasure in stone, shell, and bone. English and Germans followed, and many fine collections were secured. The remains are doubtless nearly all of the fifteenth century; and some possibly thousands of years old. Every canon having a beach on the north coast, I found, in 1886, had its ancient town-site — some large, 27 28 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA some small — the finest being at Cabrillo, or the isth- mus, now mostly covered by stables. In 1887 I trenched this with Mexican Joe and Dr. William Channing of Boston, and worked down through four or five layers of graves. The upper ones dated in all probability from since Cabrillo's time, as in them I found Italian beads, bell clappers, files, mattocks, and copper wire. The iron mattocks were evidently highly valued as they had been carefully wrapped in cloth and buried with the owners; the cloth had literally turned to iron. This was by far the most interesting deposit on the island, a typical graveyard. The lower graves contained no metal — nothing but stone, bone, and shell implements, showing that the natives had had no bartering with the whites, and ante-dated Cabrillo. I have located many ancient town-sites on Santa Catalina. One was at Empire, one at Howland's; there is another on the coach road, a mile beyond Eagle's Nest; and, not ten minutes' walk from the latter, up the hill and on a great divide extending down from Black Jack, and near the summit, is a typical cave of the Stone Age. When I first saw it, its entrance was choked with cactus growing on a heap of abalone shells (Haiiotis) which had been brought up from the sea a mile or more. The cave is large and deep enough for a small family, and faces the south. On the side were red marks, a sign of some kind. Near this cave was a smaller one, doubtless used as a kitchen, and the smoke on the rocks could still be seen. The cave was two or three hundred feet from fresh water. In and near it I found a number of interest- ing implements. At Little Harbor, a few miles north, r A O y. THE ANCIENT ISLANDERS 29 I located several town-sites, and smaller settlements at various places, the implements found showing a people of more than ordinary intelligence and taste. No record has been left of the names of these towns on Santa Catalina, though those at Avalon and Ca- brillo were very large and important. For these natives the island was a paradise, abound- ing in marine game of all kinds, crayfish, abalones, and other shells by the ton. The vast deposits of these shells show how important a feature of the life they were. In the mounds I found tuna skeletons, limpets, four species of abalones, cone shells, bones of sea-lions, dolphins, whales, seals, and sea-elephants, showing that the natives were all-around fishermen. At San Clemente I found numerous town-sites, and the great and beautifully chiselled sand dune on the southwest side has been a treasure-house to the eth- nologist, and will be referred to in the chapter relating to the island. So with the northern islands. Savages the natives doubtless were; yet a savage who could make some of the beautiful ollas and spear heads or beads I have seen, stood high in the ranks of savagery. At San Clemente, one find I saw Mexican Joe carefully cut out of the damp sand from near a man's skeleton, was a flute, made from the leg bone of a deer. The native had covered it with bits of beautiful pearl (abalone), fastening each piece on by asphaltum, the result being a rude mosaic. It was difficult to consider this aesthetic musician — whom we dug out carefully and sent to the Smithsonian — as very much of a savage. He was buried in the sand dune in a sitting position, his 30 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA arms bound to his knees, on which rested his head, while in front, behind, on each side, and over him were flutes, each carefully placed, and bearing the beautiful abalone mosaic. Here rested some savage Mendels- sohn of the Isles of Summer. Exactly when the islands were deserted is not known. I believe the people to have been decimated in wars, by the Russian otter hunters, and by disease; the last natives were doubtless taken off by the Fathers and distributed about the missions, in the early part of the nineteenth century. San Nicolas had native inhab- itants as late as about 1830, and the last woman was taken off in 1851. Vizcaino found many languages among the tribes of the islands, and this was a singular feature of all the well-inhabited regions of the coast. Every few leagues would be found a different tribe, and a different dialect. I give it as my opinion, that the natives of San Clemente and Santa Catalina spoke the dialects of the natives about the missions of San Gabriel, San Juan Capistrano, and San Luis Rey, as the missions were opposite the islands, and I have seen mortars of steatite at all these towns, or rancherias, which came from Santa Catalina. There were three languages, as spoken at the towns near these missions — Kizzh, Netela, and Kechi. Netela was the dialect of San Juan, which is almost opposite the east end of Avalon; and that the natives crossed here in their large canoes is beyond question. This route was the smoothest, a canoe striking the lee of Santa Catalina nearly twelve miles offshore, or half- way over. This language suggests Sonora and the Aztecs in its idioms. The following is the Lord's THE ANCIENT ISLANDERS si Prayer in Netela, the language the natives of Pimugna (Santa Catalina) doubtless spoke. The Lord's Prayer Chana ech tupana ave onench otune a cuachm, chame om reino, libi yb chosomec esna tupana cham nechetepe micate torn cha chaom, pepum yg cat caychame yi julug calme cai ech. De- pupun opco chame chum oyote. Amen Jisus. Each island of the group is said to have had its own dialect, which, doubtless, is true. At the mission of San Miguel, a list of words in the dialect of the island of Santa Cruz and San Miguel was found, a few exam- ples of which may be given to show the extraordinary difference : English San Miguel Island Santa Cruz Island Dialect Dialect man loguai alamuiin woman tiene hemutch father lata ; . . .ceske mother apai osloe head tobuko pispidaoah one tohi ismala two kogsu ischum three tlobahi maseghe four kesa scumoo Santa Cruz and San Miguel are within sight of one another on a clear day, and within easy reach — the sand from San Miguel often blows to Santa Rosa — yet there was this extraordinary difference in language. The inhabitants of Santa Catalina are described by Vizcaino as being very intelligent, and much in advance of those of the mainland. They made really beautiful objects, and had in their huts the counterpart of many 32 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA of the articles needed by a white. There were hooks, lines, sinkers, balls, rings, needles, awls, toys, money, paint, paint pots, beads, jewelry cases, drinking and other cups, also cups of pottery with ornamentations, such as a snake. There were beautiful arrows, spears, hooks of pearl, long ceremonial stone chlbs, lucky stones, and numerous implements whose use is un- known or a matter of speculation. One paramount advantage these natives had was the steatite quarry at Empire Landing. Here was a soft stone from which they cut their mortars, which they took over to the mainland in their big canoes and sold to the mainland natives. I have seen these mor- tars, of all kinds and sizes, and some were very attractive. I found several places in the bush where they were made. Some of the mortars had been left half cut off, the plan of the workers being to chip out a mortar with their rude implements until it resembled a ball the size of a man's head or larger, connected by a small stem. This sphere was knocked or broken off, and then hollowed out — doubtless by women — by a tedious process with stone implements, as, up to the time of Cabrillo, these natives had seen no metal. All their objects were of stone, shell, bone, or wood. In a word, the Stone Age, at Santa Catalina, continued in all its purity until 1542. I found the old quarry at Empire Landing, with its myriad of flints and chips, just as though the workers had been driven off and forced to drop their possessions and run. There were half-made mortars, others a third made, still fastened to the rock, almost perfect ones in the bush hard by, while the steatite ledge was covered in places with the scars of mortars which had been successfully removed. M f Q -". -J < ■- < X - '— b -J THE ANCIENT ISLANDERS 33 In the Diary of the expedition of Don Miguel Costanso, of 1769, occurs the following interesting reference to the inhabitants of the Channel Islands one hundred and forty-one years ago: "The Indians in whom was recognized more vivacity and industry, are those that inhabit the Islands and the Coast of the Santa Barbara Channel. They live in Pueblos [villages] whose Houses are of spherical form in the fashion of a half Orange, covered with Rushes [Enea]. They are up to twenty varas [fifty-five feet] in diameter. Each House contains three or four Families. The Hearth is in the middle, and in the top of the House they leave a vent or chimney to give exit for the smoke. In nothing did these Gentiles give the he to the affability and good treatment which were experienced [at their hands] in other times [1602] by the Spaniards who landed upon those Coasts with the General Sebastian Vizcayno. They are of good figure and aspect, Men and Women; very much given to [amigos de] painting and staining with red ochre their faces and bodies. They use great headdresses [penachos] of feathers, and some banderillas [small darts] which they bind up amid their hair, with various trinkets and beads of Coral of various colors. The Men go entirely naked; but in time of cold they sport \gastan] some long capes of tanned skins of Nutrias [otters or muskrats indifferently, in the Southwest], and some mantles made of the same skins, cut in long strips, which they twist in such manner that all the fur remains outside; then they weave these strands one with another, forming a weft, and give it the pattern referred to. "The Women go with more decency, girt about the waist with tanned skins of Deer which cover them, in front and behind, more than half down the leg, and with a mantelet [capotillo] of Nutria over the body. There are [some of them] with good features. These are [the Indian women] who make the trays and vases of rushes, to the which they give a thousand different forms and graceful patterns, according to the uses to which they are destined, whether it be for eating, drinking, guarding their seeds, or other ends; for these Peoples do not know the use of earthenware, as those of San Diego use it. 34 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA "The Men work handsome trays of wood, with firm inlays of coral or of bone; and some vases of much capacity, closing at the mouth, which appear to be made with a lathe — and with this machine they would not come out better-hollowed nor of more perfect form.* They give the whole a luster which appears the finished handiwork of a skilled Artisan. The large vessels which hold Water are of a very strong weave of rushes \junco] pitched within; and they give them the same form as our tinigas [water jars]. "To eat the Seeds which they use Jgastan] in place of Bread, they toast them first in great trays, putting among the Seeds some pebbles or small stones heated until red; then they move and shake the tray so it may not burn; and getting the Seed sufficiently toasted, they grind it in mortars or almireces of stone. [Almirez is a brass mortar.] Of these mortars there are [some] of extraordinary size, as well wrought as if they had had for the purpose the best steel tools [herramientas]. The constancy, attention to trifles, and labor which they employ in finishing these pieces are well worthy of admiration. [The mortars are] so appreciated among themselves, that for those who, dying, leave behind such handiworks, they are wont to place them over the spot where they are buried, that the mem- ory of their skill and application may not be lost. "They inter their dead. They have their Cemeteries within the very Pueblo. The funerals of their Captains they make with great pomp, and set up over their bodies some rods or poles, extremely tall, from which they hang a variety of uten- sils and chattels which were used by them. They likewise put in the same place some great planks of Pine, with various paintings and figures, in which, without doubt, they explain the exploits and prowesses of the Personage. "In their Houses, the Married couples have their separate beds on platforms elevated from the ground. Their mattresses are some simple Petates or Mats of Rushes, and their pillows are of the same Petates rolled up at the head [of the bed]. All these beds are hung about with like Mats, which serve for decency and protect from the cold. "The dexterity and skill of these Indians is surpassing in * Steatite or verde antique olios of Santa Catalina. THE ANCIENT ISLANDERS 35 the construction of their Launches made of Pine planking [tablazon]. They are from eight to ten varas [twenty-two to twenty-seven and one-half feet] in length, including their rake, and of a vara and half [four feet one and one-half inches] beam. Into their fabric enters no iron whatever, of the use of which they know little. But they fasten the boards with firmness, one to another, working their drills just so far apart, and at a distance of an inch from the edge, the [holes] in the upper boards corresponding with those in the lower ; and thro' these holes they pass strong lashings of Deer sinews. They pitch and calk the seams, and paint the whole in sightly colors. They handle the [boats] with equal cleverness, and three or four Men go out to the open sea to fish in them, as they have capacity to carry eight or ten. They use long oars with two blades, and row with unspeakable lightness and velocity. They know all the arts of fishing, and Fish abound along their Coasts, as has been said of San Diego. They have communi- cation and Commerce with the Natives of the Islands, whence they get the beads of coral* which are current in place of money thro' all these Lands; altho' they hold in more esteem the glass beads which the Spaniards gave them — and offered in exchange for these whatever they had, like trays, Otter Skins, baskets and wooden plates. More than anything they appreciate whatsoever clasp-knife [navaja] or cutting instru- ment; whose advantages over the [implements] of flint, they admire; it causing them much satisfaction to see use made of the axes and machetes, and the facility with which the soldiers, to make firewood, felled a Tree with the said Instruments." * Doubtless shell (dentalium) is meant, as the large coral here is from deep water. CHAPTER V THE ISLE OF SUMMER OVER three hundred years ago, Cabrillo, the famous Captain of Cortez, rounded up his caravel in Los Angeles harbor, then but an inlet, and rode out a southwester there. The recital says, "Being in this part [San Miguel], they passed a very great tempest, but on account of the part being good, they suffered nothing." Here Dana landed in 1835. His ship was too large to enter the laguna and she lay offshore, ready to slip out into the channel and go to sea if the wind rose. In his "Two Years Before the Mast," he describes how the hides were tossed over the cliffs, and carried out to the ships; and his later experiences with the Spanish owners of California. Another era has arrived, and we see the great harbor of the city of Los Angeles, seventeen miles away, a city of over three hundred and fifty thousand people. The old laguna is now the inner harbor, lined with ships from all over the world; and reaching out into the old anchorage of Cabrillo, Vizcaino, and Dana is a modern breakwater, built by the Government at a cost of five million dollars, beyond which another will go, costing as much more, forming, at old San Miguel (San Pedro), the great harbor of Los Angeles, one of the finest in the world. It is here — the old port of San Pedro — that the 36 THE ISLE OF SUMMER 37 traveller to the Channel Islands starts upon the ocean voyage. In a half-hour the trip is made from Los Angeles City to its port, either by the electric road, the Southern Pacific, or the Salt Lake Railroad. Waiting at the piers is one of the three steamers of the Wilmington Transportation Company — ocean steamers equipped for any weather or season, and carrying up to eight hundred passengers. The prow of the Cabrillo is turned seaward, and we are soon ploughing the blue waters of the Santa Catalina Channel. The island is distant about eighteen miles, and the trip across in itself a delightful experience. The sky is clear, the water an indescribable blue, the air invigorating; and the genial captain will guarantee that .from May to November, perhaps later, not a stormy day, with squall or gale, shall interrupt the programme; while in winter — if winter it can be called — the immunity from storms and bad weather is remarkable. As the steamer surges ahead, numerous flying-fishes dart from the waves in every direction, to the wonder of the tourist who has never seen a fish eighteen inches long soar perhaps an eighth of a mile. Large whales are seen spouting in mid-channel, and a wonderful array of marine life meets the eye. Soon, the island looms up, like some sleeping monster, and takes the shape and form of a mountain range, twenty-two miles long, adrift at sea — a bit of Southern Cali- fornia anchored offshore; an "isle of summer," even in winter. As its lofty mountains and cliffs grow more and more distinct, and the deep shadows merge into canons and ridges, the memory of the island's strange history steals upon us. Where we float, the little 38 CHANNEL. ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA caravels of Cabrillo and Vizcaino sailed, and watched the signal-smokes which probably announced their presence from native town to town, from valley to mountain. What mysteries are buried in these deep canons — what stories the listening waves could tell of the buccaneers and navigators of old! Higher rise the hills, and deeper grows the blue haze about the island that once belonged to Philip III of Spain, and finally, doubtless, became a Spanish grant to some of the conquerors. Later, to follow its modern history, it was granted by Mexico to Governor Pio Pico, deeded by him to Nicholas Covarrubias, Sr., and was finally purchased by James Lick, who fought the squatters who had established themselves here, defeated them in the courts, and gave it over to herds of sheep and goats. It was then bought by Mr. G. Shatto, who cut it up into lots, during the great boom of 1885. Then an English syndicate purchased it for the silver in its deep cations. From them it was purchased by the Banning Company, who control its destinies, though the town of Avalon is owned by hundreds of property owners from all over the country. The entire island is a part of Los Angeles County, and but a little over two hours by fast steamer from the city of Los Angeles. I first knew the island when it was owned by the Lick estate, and used as a sheep ranch; and its soft winds, its big game fishes, the radiant days of summer all the year around, made a deep and favorable im- pression, that time has only increased. There were a few settlers on the island years ago. Others, drawn by the delightful climate, allured by its natural hospitalities, by the perennial summer that THE ISLE OF SUMMER 39 lacked even the changes of the mainland, gathered, one by one, at the little bay, and called it home and Avalon; and so the little town by the Western sea grew apace. We are very near it now, sailing due south down the channel, with the strong inland wind abeam. Watch the cliffs, how boldly they breast the sea, rising like grim giants hundreds of feet in air, with thick beards of waving kelp at their base. Great slopes of green stretch away; then a glimpse of white beaches, of breaking waves gnawing at submerged rocks; a flash of flying-fish wings; canons — rivers of verdure — winding their way skyward; and, far away, the tops of the high mountains of Cabrillo, about whose crests float flecks of cloud in the drowsy air. There is something in the soft wind that speaks of contentment and rest. A butterfly drifts aboard and inspects us one by one — a messenger from the Isle of Summer. We pass a pinnacle of rock, and, on a sea of glass, glide into the little bay, with its perfect cres- cent beach, its pavilion and hotels, climbing streets and long rows of shops and homes, beyond which the deep canon winds up to distant mountains that over- look the Western sea. We have seen that Santa Catalina Island was dis- covered by Cabrillo in 1542, by Vizcaino in 1602, and there can be little doubt that it has been visited by all the famous voyagers who have come up the coast since, as Avalon Bay is a perfect summer harbor, and the harbor of Catalina, opposite Cabrillo, is equally good in winter, in fact land-locked. On a clear day the island can be seen from the mainland, or from the summit of the Sierras, sixty miles away, lying prone upon the ocean, like some huge Kraken. 40 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA The island is about twenty-two miles long, from one to four and one-half wide, and contains about fifty- five thousand acres. It is, in reality, a mountain range out at sea, a marine Sierra, eighteen miles south of Point Firmin on the mainland. The island lies nearly east and west. Near the west end it has a decided cut, and doubtless at one time, ages ago, there were two islands; but this is now an isthmus with harbors on each side — that on the southwest being three-quarters of a mile long and three-eighths of a mile wide, and deep at the entrance. In the general centre, the island runs to a height of twenty-one hundred and nine feet — Mount Black Jack. About it are two other mountains — Mounts Banning and Orizaba — which are prominent landmarks from a long distance. This great mountain range, for such it is, is cut into innumerable canons, which are in turn subdivided, so that from the summit of Black Jack an extraordinary scene is presented, canons and their laterals reaching away in every direction. Near the east end there is a well-defined range of mountains which years ago I named Cabrillo. I gave the peak at the entrance of Catalina IJarbor (north) the name of his great pilot, Bartolom6 Ferrelo,* who discovered and named Mendocino; and a cape on the northwest, the name of Vizcaino, that the worthies who came up into an unknown land in so valorous a manner should not be forgotten here. The island practically has no level land, except in the canons and at their mouths, consisting as it does of mountains cut by canons. This has resulted in * A full account of Ferrelo's expedition is given by John Van Laet ■ft ■'■:.-* .*•-.-- >•■-'.*& PICTURESQUE ROCKS Sugar Loaf Rock, Avalon Bay — The Basaltic Rock, San Clements Island o c z ci o ■§ W H THE ISLE OF SUMMER 41 making.it a most interesting and picturesque region to traverse by stage, boat, or in the saddle. The north or west end is fairly low, and marked, as is San Clemente, with a rocky pillar. The north slope is low, with canons here and there; but the south or west face is grim and forbidding, with rocky preci- pices, against which the sea breaks heavily in the winter storms — I say winter, as storms in summer are unknown in this Isle of Summer. In sailing down the island one is impressed by the fact that there are few, if any, shoals. The island rises abruptly from blue water. In fact, a ship blown in against it almost anywhere, except at the isthmus, would strike her bowsprit on the cliffs before the keel grounded. Almost everywhere blue water laves the very rocks, or the deep-growing kelp beds which constitute a belt about the island. Santa Catalina is a big peak rising abruptly from deep water, the one-hundred-and-eighty-fathom curve lying close inshore. Below land-locked Catalina Harbor, on the southwest coast, there is Little Harbor, then abrupt and precipitous cliffs, with here and there a canon beach, such as Ben Johnson's, and Silver Canon Beach, then a long line of colored cliffs which seem to have been painted by the setting sun. Then comes an isolated rock called "The Church" — with its tower — but more like a lion couchant, or like a sphinx, changing its appearance at every turn of the launch. Around this, and we sight the east end, the Sea Lion Rocks, a famous rookery of these animals, where they are so tame that the glass-bottomed boats go within a few yards of them, and the sea-lions have been photo- graphed hundreds of times. Here the water is smooth 42 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA and green. Turning the east end, a region of calms sweeps away; the cliffs are lofty and precipitous; deep canons appear, but fail to break through. Now a long pebble beach slides into view, with radiating canons, then the Bay of Avalon is passed, and from there, for ten or twelve miles, is the most attractive part of the island. It is the north, but lee shore; and winter and summer, for days, the waters, as far as the eye can reach, will be a sheet of glass, while the Bay of Avalon is always smooth — a miniature Naples, unlike anything anywhere else. The beach is a perfect crescent about one-third of a mile long, as the crab crawls. At its entrance the water is one hundred and twenty feet deep, and there is good anchorage for yachts and large vessels close inshore, with fifty feet of water. Next to Avalon is Descanso Canon — the summer home of Mr. Hancock Banning — a deep rift winding up into the Cabrillo Mountains, with lawns and tropical verdure near the beach. From here on, there are a succession of these charming canons — rivers of verdure, which wind down to little silvery beaches; some with cottonwoods in them, and the upper canons filled with small trees and brush. One of the largest is White's, a cafion backed by mountains twenty-two hundred feet high, and reached by steep trails. Beyond this is Long Point, which aids in making this entire area smooth, and the great leaping-tuna grounds, which have made this region famous all over the world. Around this point, there are other canons, and splendid views of hills, mountains, and lofty pinnacled heights. Gradually the island grows lower, until, eleven miles from Avalon, we reach Cabrillo, or the isthmus, again. THE ISLE OF SUMMER 43 This is an attractive harbor or cove, six miles from the west end — a good harbor in southerly weather. Here a town is growing, and the old isthmus is covered with groves of eucalyptus and other semitropic trees. Within this harbor are several small harbors — such as "Fisherman's" — good for small craft, cut in by the waves through a massive deposit of infusorial earth, which, when cut into, gleams white as snow. On the south point of the bay is a singular cave, just at the edge of the water, into which I have passed in a boat. Once inside, a narrow passage is seen, to the right, through which the boat may be pushed, coming out some distance to the north. Off the isthmus is a flat rock, one hundred and sev- enty yards in extent; and beyond, three-quarters of a mile, rises a white pinnacle, sixty-six feet high, known as "Ship Rock" — shot up in some remote era as a clot of lava — that is a marvellous imitation of a ship, marking one of the best fishing-grounds on the island coast. This is the only port of the island which can be said to abound in shoals and rocks, and the chart should be consulted; but the entire area can be traversed by large launches without difficulty. Santa Catalina has been opened up. A remarkable mountain coach-road extends from Avalon to How- land's, five miles beyond the isthmus, and trails and paths lead in every direction, so that it is accessible from nearly every point. Yet so steep are the canons, so innumerable are they, that visitors are wise to take guides. The stage road from Avalon to the summit is in itself most interesting. It constantly winds about, affording beautiful views of the ocean, mountains, and the great snow-capped peaks of the 44 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA Sierra Madre, San Jacinto, San Antonio, San Bernar- dino, on the mainland, sixty miles away. Along the shore from Avalon, to the east, there is a road leading to Pebble Beach Cation, filled with rare trees and shrubs; or, one can ascend by mountain roads and so reach the mountains and canons to the south. The town of Avalon is unlike any other place in the world. It stands directly on the crescent-shaped bay, at the mouth of a large canon, which nearly bisects the island here. At the upper end, a mountain ridge, which has withstood the gnawing tooth of time, rises like a grim wall, and gives to this section what is undoubtedly the nearest approach to that anomaly, the "perfect climate." When I first saw this canon it was a mountain wash, filled with cactus and chaparral. To-day it is a grove of stately eucalyptus trees, which shelter the homes of eight or nine thousand people in summer, and of many all the year around. The town climbs the hills and canons, the homes adapting them- selves to circumstances and the physical conditions. On the front are the large hotels, the Tuna Club, a pavilion for concerts; while up in one of the canons is a Greek theatre where the Santa Catalina band plays all summer. Up the main canon are the picturesque golf links and tennis club courts. Avalon is a remarkable town, inasmuch as it is based on angling with rod and reel. Here yearly is held the greatest convocation of sea-anglers in the world, as they come from everywhere. There are varied allure- ments, such as the climate and pastimes, but the one thing upon which Avalon is based is the fishing, and everything is subservient to that. The bay is filled with launches and boats of all kinds, devoted to this THE ISLE OF SUMMER 45 sport. There is a fleet of glass-bottomed boats; fleets of rowboats and yachts of the owners who live on the slopes of the neighboring hills overlooking the bay. The angling interest becomes acute at the south side of the bay, where a long pier leads out into the water — a structure absolutely unique. It is the resort of the professional tuna boatmen. Their stands are arranged along each side, and consist of long boxes, holding rods, reels, and all the paraphernalia of a professional fisherman. Over the stand and seat is the name of the boatman. Nearly all of the older boatmen are well known all over this country and England. These stands are the offices of the boatmen, and their fine eight- and ten-horse-power launches are at anchor near by. There are three or four landings from this pier, which are reached by stairs, and, having made your engagement, you join your boat here, or at the private dock of the Tuna Club, if you are a member. At the end of this angling pier are two singular objects. One looks like a gallows, another is a locked scale. On the first, the great game fish — of from twenty to five hundred pounds — are weighed and photographed. In the morning, at noon, and at night this pier is the centre of attraction, as all the fish taken in the tournaments must come in here to be weighed by Vincente Moriche, and other official weighers of the Tuna Club. Launches are constantly arriving, big fishes being hoisted up, people crowding to see the heroes of the hour land. Fishes are tossed out, big ones weighed, the talk is of three-six, nine-nine, and the big fellows that got away. The photographer, Sefior Peter V. 46 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA Reyes, and Mr. Baker are on hand, and the "tender- foot" is photographed standing by his catch, as no one in the Middle West, away from the ocean, will believe such a story without evidence. While the fish are being landed, Ben, the big seal, gives an exhibi- tion of stealing them. On the opposite side of the dock the big glass-bottomed boats, the Empress and Lady Lou, are landing delighted passengers. Up the beach is a large and finely equipped bath-house, where hun- dreds bathe daily; and in the centre of the curved beach is the* aquarium, where the anglers can study their game before they go out, and see the fishes and marine animals of the Channel Islands alive and in the environ- ment of their choice. They constitute a unique assem- blage as many are peculiar to this locality. This zoological station has a much larger variety of marine animals than the Naples Aquarium, where American students go. The Banning Company, who built this aquarium, permit accredited students to use it free; various schools have sent their teachers and students* here, and the aquarium has provided schools with specimens for study. Avalon possesses a charm that sooner or later in- volves the visitor who has a love of nature in his make- up. In the summer there are three boats a day from Los Angeles, and the little bay is filled with gay craft. Now we see a feature of the life. The finest band in the West gives an outdoor concert at the Greek theatre every evening; and at nine o'clock the appreciative listeners follow it to a large dancing-pavilion, where perfect order and courtesy are the most remarkable features. This dancing-pavilion is one of the institu- tions of the Channel Islands, and it is doubtful if it GLASS-BOTTOMED BOATS Small and large Hauling seine for sardines Vincenle, the Venetian, hauling seine for bail THE BAIT CATCHERS OF SANTA CATALINA ISLAND THE ISLE OF SUMMER 47 could be duplicated elsewhere. Avalon is a perfectly conducted city without mayor, aldermen, or trustees, or officers of any kind except the major-domo and police in private clothes. There are attractive golf links, and up the canon tennis courts, while horseback riding, coaching, good shooting in season, motorboat races, yachting and boating make Avalon a playground where all the pas- times can be enjoyed. Almost everything has a marine flavor. The polo is water polo; the tug of war is be- tween boatmen in skiffs. Then there is baseball on the water, the base men and the batter standing on small floats. There are swimming and diving con- tests. Here are seen remarkable divers who meet the boats and dive for the silver and nickels tossed over by the tourist passengers of the midday boat. The little town along the crescent-shaped beach has nearly every kind of store or shop, but no bank. Its curio shops are unique, with their collections of aba- lone shells glistening with every hue of the rainbow, with shells, corals, and fishes from all over the Pacific. The tackle stores contain anything in the tackle line to be found in New York, the best rods, reels, and lines. An institution is Parker's, the local taxidermist, who mounts all the fishes for the anglers — from tunas to swordfish; whose room reminds one of Shake- speare's description — walls covered with big, splendid fishes, eyed and eyeless, nothing but fish. From this little shop trophies go all over the world. In the eucalyptus grove is a tent city where hundreds enjoy camping out with the luxury of perfect neatness and the best of sanitary conditions. The sewers lead far out into the ocean; the drinking water is pumped from 48 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA distant wells or brought from the mainland, so that the health conditions are perfect. Climbing the hills and cliffs we may see attractive homes of all kinds, combining to produce a town which has caught the fancy of men and women from all over the world. There are metals of some kind on all the Channel Islands. Mr. Caire has informed me that very good outcroppings of gold have been found at Santa Cruz; I have not visited the mine or the locality. Silver Canon, Santa Catalina, suggests the metal once mined here, and according to Mr. L. Parsons, silver mines exist at the Isthmus. A mine in Cherry Valley was worked for some time, and thirty tons of ore, worth one hun- dred and fifty dollars per ton, were taken out. At Little Harbor many minerals crop out, among them copper, and as a layman, not an expert, I have found this, in a mineralogical sense, one of the most interest- ing places on the island. While several mining booms have swept over Santa Catalina, one in i860, which resulted in every one being sent off the island, Silver Canon, on the east end, is the site of the only serious work done here. On the strength of the richness of this canon the island was once sold to an English company. The ore is a galena, bearing a small percentage of gold, according to Mr. Parsons already quoted. This mine has produced about fifteen thousand dollars, the ore being brought out on burros, and it was once sold for fifteen thousand dol- lars more. The closing of the Indian mints and the drop in silver are given as the reasons why work was suspended, but the expense of getting the ore out doubtless was the true reason. In this era of dirigible THE ISLE OF SUMMER 49 balloons this mine might be made to pay, as an ordi- nary balloon with a cubic foot capacity of 750,000 feet of gas, propelled by a fifty-horse-power engine, could lift twenty-eight tons of ore at a load out of this canon and deliver it at Avalon, or anywhere else for that matter, if all we hear about the conquest of the air is true. Santa Catalina is tunnelled by shafts in various places. One was discovered, accidentally, on Avalon Bay a few years ago, and is now used as an oil storehouse. The next canon to Descanso bears another, on the beach, and on the west end miners have made numer- ous caves. The serpentine, or verd antique, quarries at Empire Landing supply a valuable substitute for marble, and their product is used in many buildings of Los Angeles. The fine fireplaces in the Hotel Metropole at Ava- lon are made of it, and all over the island ollas, or mortars, have been found, made of this stone by the ancient owners of Pimugna, who carried on an impor- tant trade with the mainland in these utensils. CHAPTER VI INCIDENTS IN TUNA FISHING THERE is hardly a really great national sport that has not arrived at its true perfection by slow evolution, and this is particularly true of sea-angling. Some twenty-four years ago, hav- ing taken nearly all the game fishes, large and small, of the East Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, I strayed over to the island of Santa Catalina. Anglers readily become enthusiastic, but this maze of mountains rising out of a turquoise sea, the quiet bays, the lofty cliffs, made a profound impression on me; and when I saw men throwing cast-lines from the beach and landing fishes weighing from seventeen to forty pounds, more or less, fishes which for strength and game qualities would put the salmon to shame, I made up my mind that I had discovered a fisherman's paradise. • There was one professional boatman on the island, Jose Felice Presiado, or "Mexican Joe," whom I engaged, and in his heavy, broad-beamed yawl he rowed me from one end of the island to the other; a thirty-mile pull along the rocky and beautiful shores was a bagatelle to Joe. After landing me on the Avalon beach, where the waters sang musically on the sands, he would row home to a canon four miles up the coast. At six the next morning he would be on hand again, and we would repeat the trip or go around the south end to the windward. 60 INCIDENTS IN TUNA FISHING 51 The fishing-ground this genial Mexican opened up to me was a delight; in my mind's eye I saw the thou- sands who later would come to enjoy it, and I have lived to see Avalon, on the bay where I cast from the beach, with no spectators except the pelicans, the gulls, and the ravens, with a summer population of eight thousand or more, the hills dotted with cottages and hotels of all sizes and conditions. If the fishing had been in streams it would long ago have been exhausted, but the big game fish are still here, the mild, delicious air, the tender blue of the sky; and, while modernized, Santa Catalina is still the angler's paradise, where one may meet in a season or a year one hundred and l I fifty thousand persons, among them many English- men. Of these, some have made the trip to land a yellowtail, a tuna, or a black sea bass. While Santa Catalina is seemingly several thousand miles from anywhere, it is really not so far from New York and London, and one can decide to-day to go a-fishing there, and from twelve to fourteen days later from London be on the grounds in the midst of the sport, or in five days from New York reach it with equal ease. So much for ocean greyhounds and special cross-continent express trains. Again, the grounds are but a two and a half hours' sail from Los Angeles, a city of 350,000 inhabitants. Of all the game taken on these splendid fishing- grounds, the tuna is the best known, and some anglers go thousands of miles every season to take it. The tarpon has been caught twenty-five years or more with a rod in Florida, while the capture of the leaping tuna is a recent gift of the gods. It has been my good fortune to have taken many of the big game 52 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA fishes and hard fighters, except the rohu and mahseer that Mr. Thomas describes in India, and it fell to my luck — that ephemeral, evanescent something which Dr. Van Dyke apostrophizes — to kill, under condi- tions favorable to the game, the first very large leaping tuna taken with rod and reel. I had dreamed dreams about this possibility; had seen preposterous and wild- eyed tunas rushing through the hazy stuff that dreams are made of, years before; had seen other anglers, who had not tried so hard nor so long, take the first fish; had hooked them dozens of times; had known strong men to be laid low; had had my six hundred feet of line jerked from the reel with a buzz and a cry that sent the blood to the danger point; and at last I sat, breathless and nearly exhausted, and gazed at the six feet of blue and silver, a type of all that is vigorous and game among fishes; sat and watched the strange far-reaching quiver of the dying gladiator of the tribe that was imparted to boat and men. Four hours before the strike had come; and, as the boatman said, it was one round of four hours, with no "time"; four hours of rushing, pulling, sounding, excitement, and strenuous endeavor. Big tunas had doubtless been caught before; they had been harpooned, caught with ropes, shot, perhaps with bombs, or trapped in nets of rope, but this splendid fish had been tricked and played to a finish, with a line so light that a jerk would have broken it. Technically, in the language of the angler, the line was a number twenty-one. So there were no regrets; the game had been fairly killed, and more than once had had me on what is called the "run." I believe this fish, which was six- feet four inches in A BIG HAMMERHEAD Caught with rod and reel by Mr. Paine — Mexican J or, boatman A tuna in position as it returns from a leap eight or ten foot in air after a flying-fish Flying-fish FISH OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS INCIDENTS IN TUNA FISHING 58 length, and weighed one hundred and eighty-three pounds, was a typical tuna, the embodiment of what is best in the tribe, the hardest fighting game fish known, rich in reserve and force, prolific in expedient, and invested with an inexhaustible supply of that some- thing which, translated, means "dying game." A few evenings ago I heard Major Burnham describe how a large African elephant he shot fought twenty minutes after it had two or three bullets in its heart; it did not give up — the highest quality of courage; and this big fish exemplified this in its every act and move, its last rush or run towing my heavy boat four miles; even when gaffed it smashed and splintered the weapon, and when dragged in, pounded the planking with mighty blows that had a menacing ring. No one could watch the struggle of this fish and not regret its fall; yet the catch established the fact, not believed up to that time, that the very large tunas, up to and over one hundred and eighty pounds, could be caught with light tackle, or a twenty-one-thread line, with a breaking strength of forty-two pounds. Every angler has had experience with fishes of differ- ent power, yet of the same size. I have known a one- hundred-and-thirty-pound tuna to be landed in ten minutes. I have hooked a six-foot tarpon that I could have fought to a finish in less time. Salmon, bass, mahseer, rohu — indeed, all fishes — have their failures, their disappointments; but this tuna repre- sented, to me at least, all that is best in the tribe; and the catch is described as an appreciation of what I believe to be the typical tuna, and not the underfed, spawning, or invalid fish that sometimes falls to the lot of the disappointed angler. 54 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA The tuna is a pelagic fish, a free lance, an ocean rover, a sort of swaggering musketeer of the sea, the largest of what may be termed the game or bony fishes, attaining a maximum weight of nearly two thou- sand pounds, and an approximate length of fourteen feet or more. Such a fish is very exceptional, though specimens weighing fifteen hundred pounds have been taken on the New England coast. I once entered a school of such tunas in the Santa Catalina Channel in a big launch. The school divided to port and star- board as we passed through it, and I had a view of one or two fishes that appeared to be more than half as long as the boat. These fishes spend the winter in warm latitudes, and migrate north as far as the mouth of the St. Lawrence. They are found in the Mediterranean, and north to the Loffoden Islands; yet so far, the efforts of anglers, except at Santa Cata- lina, have failed to take them with the rod. Even here there is a stretch of but eight miles of so where they can be satisfactorily played and taken with rod and reel. This region lies on the north side of Santa Catalina, from Avalon to Long Point, and to the east as many more, facing the north, and generally smooth — more like a Scottish loch than a fishing-ground twenty miles out to sea. The tuna comes often in May, but for some unknown reason can usually be counted on only from the middle of June to the middle of August,* and even then is the most capricious and uncertain of fishes. I have had strikes before getting out of Avalon Bay; again have trolled around large schools of tunas that passed the boat in full sight, utterly ignoring me, not a glance * In 1909 tunas were taken in October. INCIDENTS IN TUNA FISHING 55 being cast at the luscious fresh flying-fish dragged across their mouths. Can this be the same fish that yesterday turned the quiet bay into a maelstrom, rushed at anything, and ravished the quiet waters; the fish that bounded ten feet into the air, an insatiate creature, killing for the mere gratification? It is such qualities that make the tuna profitable game. When it is said that its flesh is palatable, and that no specimens are wasted on the Pacific Coast, the story of the fish is told; and we may see it strike, and follow it on until the gaff is driven home and the tuna fairly bagged. I fished for the tuna many years before I caught one. I have tried for it in the Atlantic along the New England towns, where you may see the crescent- shaped tail nailed onto the roof of the fish-house as a sign of good luck. I have fished in California, repeatedly lost lines, tips, and have seen another land the first fish; yet the solace came when I brought in one day what appeared to be the limit of angling (rod and reel) possibilities. We pushed out one morn- ing, a friend and I, on a glass-like sea. The east, over the Sierra Madre, was a rich vermilion, and the waters of the bay seemed to reflect it in the centre, while along the shores there were purple shadows melt- ing into green, the colors and tints of the sea grass and weed that in bands and zones covers the bottom of the bay of delights. We had rods weighing sixteen ounces, seven and a half feet long, Vom Hofe silver and rubber reels, splendid machines, made with all the care of a watch, and holding six hundred feet of twenty-one-thread line wet. The leader was of piano wire, about seven feet long; and for six feet more, the 56 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA line was doubled for the gaffer to hold while gaffing the fish. The leader is necessary, for a boring fish will often chafe off a line on the sharp finlets of its tail. The launch is a ten-horse-power, eighteen or twenty feet, broad-beamed craft, built on the island for this particular purpose. The gasoline engine is small and well forward, the anglers sitting side by side in arm- chairs facing the stern; the gaffer stands behind them, where he acts as engineer, baiter, gaffer, and man at the wheel, the latter being on the side of the boat. The engine is started and we move out at a three-mile per hour or more pace, slacking out, overrunning the lines until one hundred or more feet is out, then each angler drops the butt into the leather cap fastened to the chair between his legs, holding the rod at an angle of forty-five degrees, beginning the wait with which all fishing events are associated. At this moment the angler has his thumb on a leather pad that is lashed onto the upper cross-bar of the reel ready to press on the line, this being the brake par excellence. Out we go into the tinted water, by the lofty cliffs, opening up vistas of the island shore. We are lost in the contemplation of these beauties, when out of the sea of steel rises a curious object. It looks like a gigantic dragon-fly standing on its tail, which it is wriggling vigorously; a few seconds later it is clear of the water, and with four big wings set, soars away across our wake — the very luckiest thing that could happen, for every angler knows that the flying-fish has been flushed by a tuna, possibly two, and that they will cross our baits. INCIDENTS IN TUNA FISHING 57 Biff, bang, zeeee-zeee, zeee! Do you know the lan- guage of reels? — the song, the laughter, the cry of victory from the brass or silver throat? Then you know what this means. Two rods have been jerked down fiercely in a radius of five feet, two reels have cried out suddenly, so loudly that a fellow-angler in the distance raises his hat and cheers for our good luck. The boatman has stopped the engine, and the boat is backing before the fish gets a hundred feet of Hne, while the thumbs are pressing on the line grinding off bits of leather in a dark red shower. The song of the reels increases — zeee-zeee! Then one stops; the rod straightens, and my companion expresses himself — his fish is off. This left me the field and made possible my big catch, though I have several times seen both fishes landed — a rare and difficult operation, as they have the trick of joining forces and fouling the lines. I had hooked many tunas, but never before had failed to stop the first rush in less than three hundred and fifty feet, but this fish kept up the music, ze-e-e-e, tearing off the line despite my efforts, until the conviction was forced into my mind that here was a force that nothing could stop, that was surely taking all the line. The fish had plunged down into the azure of the channel's heart. There was possibly a thousand feet below us gradually sinking away to the depths of the mighty cation known as the Santa Catalina Channel, an abyss so deep that it falls under the popular head of "no bottom," among the alongshore men and toilers of the sea. I followed the thread of a line down into these deeps, saw the beauty of its color, its vivid inten- sity, caught the tracery of a myriad delicate forms, 58 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA of jelly-fishes — the fairy Beroe, the pellucid Cassio- pea, the lavender Rhizostoma, the Circe, the Geryon, the Tima, and others — cut by the knife-like line. The ocean was filled with these fairy craft, through which the tuna was rushing down the slopes of this mountain of the sea. The launch was moving at half speed astern to give me a chance to stop the game, but it seemed impos- sible. Too much effort would have broken the line, which was tested to a dead pull of but forty-two pounds, and when the bursts of speed came the pressure had to be decreased, changing the cry of the stricken reel. Now the tip of the rod would be jerked violently down, always bent; now trembling, telling that the game was shaking its head in an attempt to throw out the bait. Four hundred feet had gone — I knew it, as the line was marked with red silk at every fifty feet, and I had seen eight flashes of crimson melt into the blue. Another span went out to the grinding zee-e-ee-e-e-e-e of the reel, and there was but twenty- five feet more on the spool; the occasion demanded a special effort, and I called on that line and rod as you and I have called on a good horse in a hard cross- country run after the hounds. Will it respond? The ze-e-e-e is grinding out its notes, and becomes a groan; the leather pad is worn through an eighth of an inch, the rod bends to the danger point — saints of Bath- bara protect us! and — "You've got him, sir," comes a whisper over my shoulder from the boatman. I had stopped the running line, held it hard, and witnessed that always recurring miracle in tuna fishing, — one which some anglers who have not witnessed it 1, Leader 2, Swivels 3, Scales (60 pounds) 4, 5, Sinkers 6, 7, Leather reel brakes 8, Line savers 0, Thumb stall 10, Rubber rod cap 11, 12, Wire lead- ers 1 , Hooks' for small fish 2-6, Wilson spoons (ycllowtail, while sea bass, etc.) 7, Japanese flics for catching bait (sardines) S, Ycllowtail hook, leader, etc. 1, Belt 2, Gajj 3, Tackle box 4, Tuna reel y, Yelloivtail reel 6, Reel for small fish TACKLE USED BY THE TUNA CLUB, SANTA CATALINA ISLAND TUX A REEL Showing I'dv brakes TUNA REEL Showing handle side INCIDENTS IN TUNA FISHING 59 refuse to accept, — the tuna towing a twenty-foot launch by four hundred and fifty feet or more of twenty-one-strand line. It seems impossible. During this rush the boat had gone four or five hundred feet offshore, and now it remained to gain line. The rod was raised quickly, and four feet was reeled in as rapidly as the hand would move. Again and again was this repeated; again and again there would come a splendid rush, and all the line gained would slip away into the sea, and the work had to be gone over again. Moments slipped by, and in an hour's time the fish has towed us an estimated four miles up the island and offshore, and doubtless intended to make for the deeper water of the channel. At the end of two hours I had the tuna within two hundred feet of the boat, during which it had never ceased its boring and plunging tactics that nearly paralyzed my left side and arms, and took away all feeling from the thumb, always playing on the brake. About this time I decided to force the fighting, and gained fifty feet in short order, when I saw that the fish was rising, and the rod had a tremulous motion. Up it came until two hundred feet away the tuna struck the sur- face, lashed the water a moment, then turned and shot around in a great half -circle to plunge down again. Again I forced it up, when it turned and played a splendid manoeuvre entirely on the surface. About two hundred feet away it turned and came at me like a mad bull. If a swordfish had made the move it would have been uncomfortable; as it was, I leaped to my feet, stood one foot on the rail, and reeled rapidly. It was beyond human possibility to reel in the slack. The vision of that splendid charge was entrancing. 60 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA On came the fish — blue, green, yellow, and silver — flashing, tossing the spray, until it reached a point ten feet distant, when evidently it sighted the boat, turned sharply, and shot away like an arrow, taking off three hundred or more feet of line, and had to be again pumped up from the depths. Again it rose to the surface, again it charged me in the same gallant fashion, this el toro of the sea; a proceeding that was sensational in the highest degree; and so two hours passed. There was no "time," it was all action on the part of the fish, and terrific strain on the resilient rod, which had to be held at an angle of forty-five degrees. At two hours and a half the tuna swam in a circle about the boat after one of its sensational charges, then it started out to sea, taking us along at a rapid pace for a mile, when I stopped and turned it. It doubled and swam back, heading for the rocks near a point, and did not stop until so near them that I expected it to foul in the kelp; but when it sighted this floating forest it turned, circled the boat, and literally went mad as I stood and tried to hold it. Now it plunged to the bottom, rose like a balloon to circle the boat with great velocity, then dashed away to turn and charge us; all accomplished so quickly that boatman and angler were weary in anticipating it. I had been playing the tuna three hours, and we were four miles from the point where it was hooked. By a desperate effort I reeled it to within thirty feet, so near that the boatman began to handle his gaff. I fancied that the end was at hand, and was congratu- lating myself as I began dimly to realize that this fish was playing me also, and that I was slowly going down. INCIDENTS IN TUNA FISHING 61 I give these particulars of a long play, they being more or less interesting and typical, as showing the gradual breaking down of a man by a fish. Encour- aged by the apparent weakness of the tuna, I bent all my efforts to the reel, and happily brought the fish in, when suddenly it sprang ahead to gain line, turned, and took three hundred feet as easily as it had taken it three hours before — took it, held it, and swam steadily down the coast in the direction of Avalon. The boatman kept the oars in the water and tried every reasonable trick to tire it, but the tuna kept on towing us, always stern first. I stopped it several times; it charged us again and again, and took us half a mile offshore, then turned and dragged us stern first into a heavy sea, which threatened to sink us; but by good fortune, which surely was on board, I turned the fish, which now headed to the south to the belt of smooth water. The continual strain on the left arm had brought me to the verge of acknowledging that something would have to be done, but I finally stopped the fish directly opposite Avalon, within a stone's throw of the spot where I had hooked it four hours earlier, its last run being about four miles. I literally made the desperate effort of my life, and brought it to the boat. For the first time we had a perfect view, and saw, what I had suspected, that it was a very large fish. I stood up, taking no chances; and as it swung along the quarter, canted upward, its big hypnotic eye staring out of the blue, the gaff sank into it. The fish gave a semi-leap, hurling the water over us, splintered the gaff pole, and was fifty feet away in a second; but by sheer good luck I stopped 62 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA it, and seeing that it was demoralized again, brought it in, fighting every inch. Another gaff, larger and stouter, another quick turn, and the clever boatman, flushed with victory, stood a moment holding the monster by the throat, then we stepped on the rail, forcing it down to the water's edge, and the tuna slid gracefully into the boat, where it beat a tattoo that bid fair to crush the timbers. Then, and only then, did we realize that it was a record fish, a giant of the tribe; and as boats gathered around, cheers, shouts, and congratulations rose on the air. As we pulled in, and the splendid creature was hauled out, triced up, and weighed, it was a moment of supreme satisfaction; for the game had nearly turned the tables several times, and had been taken with a line so small as to challenge the credulity of almost any one. "Six feet four, a hundred and eighty-three pounds, sir," was the verdict of the proud boatman, Jim Gard- ner, of England, without whose skilled and clever work the contest would have ended long before. Such, in brief, were the incidents in the catch of the fish that became the first record of the Tuna Club, which was founded a few days later. This catch typifies what is known in the United States as "strenuous sport"; but it was a small fish, eighty-eight pounds lighter, that really gave me the most sensational contest. I was fishing off Long Point with a light yellowtail rod to see if I could land a tuna on it, when I had a strike, a fine fish which was brought to gaff after a surface play of forty minutes. I had the same boatman, but a lower and lighter boat, a broad-beamed yawl. With me was Mr. Dennison, of Philadelphia, an ardent angler. We had, as often AXGLIXG MAP OK SAXTA CATALIXA ISLAND GROUP, SHOWING LOCATIOX OF FISHING GROUNDS > INCIDENTS IN TUNA FISHING 63 happens, two strikes, and by good fortune I saved my fish, my companion going forward and taking his place in the bow to give me elbow room and the field. I turned the fish at the quarter, the boatman gaffed it, slid it fairly in, and then — then the unexpected happened, which well illustrates the possible dangers of big-fish angling. I was standing up to watch the fish, and as it touched the bottom of the boat it doubled, leaped or sprang into the air, and fell on the gunwale. The next second I was treading water, and the boat, which had sunk by the stern, shot up, bow first, shed- ding oars, gaffs, rods, and the many things that make up the sea-angler's kit. I recall seeing good American pie and a meerschaum pipe sailing off from the wreck. We were nearly a mile offshore, and as the boat came up I had backed off. My companion flung his arms about her, and called out that he could not swim. It was then that the boat began a mysterious series of movements which I did not understand until later. She rolled over and over, and demonstrated that she would not hold us; so the boatman, who was a pro- fessional swimmer, took the rail on one side and I took the other side, hauling my companion, who wore an overcoat, into the boat, hoping in this way to steady her; but as she persisted in her inclination to roll over we decided to get him stretched out upon the bottom, while the boatman and I swam to the launch that was lying six or eight hundred feet off, and whose new engine we saw refused to work. The boat was turned bottom up; the unfortunate angler hauled himself onto her, and finding that he could preserve his balance, we struck out. I had on a cor- duroy suit and leggings and heavy shoes, and the 64 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA outlook was not enticing, but we made fair headway. I shortly distanced the boatman, and saw to my delight that the launch had started up and was coming for us. When she was within one or two hundred feet of me, a woman in her bow, the wife of our boat- man, began screaming that her husband was drowning. I stopped swimming and, looking back, saw that he had indeed disappeared; but he immediately reap- peared, to again disappear. Three times this occurred. I thought of sharks, but in answer to my call he cried out that he was all right, and still had my tuna. This proved to be the case. The brave fellow had never released the fish; it was still impaled on the gaff, and it was this splendid fish that plunged down, took him out of sight, literally dragging him under water. I was presently alongside, but he refused aid, and we again took up the swim, he swimming with his right arm, dragging the tuna with his left. When we shortly reached the launch two men took hold of me, but I was so heavy that they could not haul me aboard. A rope was then passed around my waist, and I was lashed to the shrouds and hauled up to allow the water to run off, corduroy proving a deadly load. In the meantime Gardner threw his legs about the propeller, and we rested after the swim, after which all hands laid hold, and I was rolled in, to be in at the death of the to-be famous tuna. I leaned down over the stern, the crew holding me by the legs, while Gard- ner, who was lashed to the yacht, reached up the fish as well as he could. Anxious not to take any chances of losing the game, I thrust my arm down into the tuna's throat, grasped it by the gills, and gave the word. The crew hauled on my legs, I hauled INCIDENTS IN TUNA FISHING 65 the tuna, and dropped it, still alive and vigorous, into the cockpit; then, Gardner having been hauled aboard, we made the welkin ring with cheers. In answer came a faint shout from my plucky companion, who, lying fiat, did not dare to raise his head, but still wished to be a party in our triumph. The launch was now headed for him, and a line was tossed to him, which he made fast about his waist, and by this he was hauled aboard; then the boat was picked up, and Captain Harry Doss, who had rowed out, gath- ered up the flotsam which had covered the sea. Now comes another extraordinary incident almost beyond belief in this sensational catch. As we sat watching the contortions of this active fish that drove us out of the cockpit, Gardner put his hand down to his trousers and cut out a hook that in some way had caught. It was connected with a line which was found to run overboard, and upon hauling in five or six hundred feet of it, my valuable rod and reel came in from the bottom of the bay. Gardner had not only towed the fish, but this as well. In the confusion of the rolling boat I had lost my hold upon the rod, and the big reel had carried it to the bottom; but by a special dispensation, the tuna had thrown out the hook, which stuck in the boatman's trousers, as de- scribed. If any more remarkable series of incidents ever came to pass in the landing of one fish I have failed to hear of it. With flags flying we made the port of Avalon an hour later, producing the first tuna of the season, which weighed ninety-five pounds, thereby winning for the boatman the prizes of rods in the tournament of that year. I believe it is not going too far to say 66 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA that nine men out of ten would have cast off a tuna under the circumstances; and it is a pleasure to be able to cite James Gardner as an ideal tuna gaffer, possessing courage and skill. Such are some of the incidents in this famous sport along the Channel Islands, where the sea is turquoise and the days are an almost endless summer. I wish that space permitted the recital of all the great battles with tunas by other anglers, many of which were far more exciting and sensational than my own, and much longer; but that would be to publish the records of the Tuna Club; and a book of angling must be more or less confined to the experiences of its author, as he knows them the best. Following are the Tuna catches of 1909, for which I am indebted to Mr. L. P. Streeter, secretary of the Tuna Club. TUNA CATCHES Season of 1909 Date. Angler. Weight Founds. Aug. 19 A. C. Brode 126 Aug. 20. ... C. G. Conn no Aug. 22 . . . .L. G. Murphy 118 Aug. 22 .... E. G. Judah in Aug. 23 C. G. Conn 128, 120, 109 Aug. 23 A. J. Eddy inj Aug. 23 A. L. Tyler 117 Aug. 23. .. .C. C. Bowerman no Aug. 24 Dr. J. L. Kirkpatrick 138I Aug. 24 Dr. Edwin O. Palmer 112J Aug. 24 Wm. M. Hunt, Jr 117 Aug. 25 E.J. Polkinhorn 113 Aug. 25 Ross Kirkpatrick, Jr 126 Aug. 25 C. G. Conn 12 o Aug. 25 Philip S. O'Mara 153 Aug. 26 C. G. Conn II4 Aug. 26 Ben Williams 12 5 Aug. 28 Roy F. B. Shaver x^i Aug. 28 Ben Williams I23 j Aug. 29 J. A. Coxe I22 $ INCIDENTS IN TUNA FISHING 67 Aug. 30 C. G. Conn I2 » Aug. 30 C. A. Thomas n8j Aug. 30. . . .G. E. Pillsbury, Jr I04i Aug. 30 T. McD. Potter 9 6j Aug. 30 W. H. Ogburn I02 J Aug. 30 L. G. Murphy II4 Aug. 30 W. E. Jones i I0 Aug. 30 B . O. Kendall I20 J Aug. 30 Ben Williams 109 J Aug. 31 W. E. Jones 106 Aug. 31 Smith Warren xo8 Sept. 1. . . .C. G. Conn 112 Sept. 1 . . . . W. E. Jones 123 Sept. 1. . . .G. E. Pillsbury, Jr 126 Sept. 2 . . . . Smith Warren 100 Sept. 2 . . . . W. Greer Campbell '. 120 Sept. 4. . . .L. P. Streeter 136 Sept. 4. . . . G. E. Pillsbury, Jr 109 Sept. s Eugene Elliott 104 Sept. 8 Dr. B. O. Coates 123 J Sept. n A. W. Hooper 68 Sept. 13 C. Irving Wright io8J Sept. 13 H. C. Rice 130 Sept. 14. . . .A. W. Hooper X117J, 145J Sept. 14 L. G. Murphy xio8J Sept. 14. . . .Howard Wright 137 Sept. 14 A. B. Hitt 121S Sept. 14 Henry Wetherby 129 Sept. 15 A. T. Munn 112 Sept. 15 Mrs. Philip S. O'Mara X135 Sept. IS- ■ • -A. W. Hooper 113 Sept. 15 L. T. Bradford 126J Sept. 17 C. G. Conn 113I, 108, 137J Sept. 18 A. W. Hooper 122$ Sept. 18 C. G. Conn ioiJ, 120J, 125$, 115 Sept. 22 .... F. B. Murray 112 Sept. 23 .... L. G. Murphy xioo x Disqualified. Mutilated by shark. Summary Total number taken during season, 65. Number over 100 pounds, 62. Average weight, 118. 2 pounds. Largest, 153 pounds. Smallest, 68 pounds. Number of Blue Buttons issued, 28. 68 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA Classification op Blue Button Winners Seven buttons awarded to associate members. Three buttons awarded to active members holding Red Buttons. One button awarded to elected active member. Seventeen buttons awarded to anglers not members at time of catch, but later elected. The leaping tuna, Thunnus thynnus, is not only a game fish, but edible. In Italy the fisheries are most important and the fishermen parade the streets and appeal to the saints for good seasons. There they are caught in vast nets, and not a scrap of tuna is wasted. In California there is no demand for the fish for food except by the Italians; but nearly all that are taken with rod and reel are mounted by Chas. C. Parker, the Avalon taxidermist, who has sent them all over this country and to England as trophies; to take a tuna over one hundred pounds in weight, according to Tuna Club rules, is supposed to mean something. Exactly where the leaping tuna goes in winter has always been a mooted question, but this year, when Mr. C. G. Conn was fishing in the Gulf of California, he found that the tunas visited that region. He refers to it as follows: "I am writing you the information, etc. We have prac- tically ascertained definitely that the tuna come south in the winter, although we have not found their rendezvous. They make their appearance in March each year at San Lucas Bay where they may be found in great numbers. The natives catch them then with harpoons, and they say that some of the fish weigh over three hundred pounds. The natives call these tuna large albacores, and their description of the leaping of the fish, some of which they say jump out of the water ten feet into the air, settles in my mind all doubt as to the migra- tion of the tuna south during the winter months. The natives INCIDENTS IN TUNA PISHING 69 claim that these albacores are very powerful. A Mr. Cesaha has found one of them near shore, and not being able to land it with his dugout he induced a neighbor, a Mr. Green, to hitch his horse to the harpoon line. Mr. Cesana says the albacore pulled the horse into the water, when ' the line was broken and the fish got away.' " As to the spawning season of the tuna but little is known. I have never seen a leaping tuna under seventy or eighty pounds; I have heard of several as small as five pounds being caught, but this is rare. The spawn is doubtless deposited in August or Sep- tember, on the surface. The young in a short time take to deeper water and form in schools somewhere. Usually the schools of adults have been followed in or about the bay at Long Point, but in 1909 the big school lay off the southeast of Santa Catalina about five miles, where most of the catches were made. I saw them at San Clemente where they were widely distributed and charging the flying-fishes down the coast, covering miles of water. At Santa Catalina in 1909 the school appeared to move inshore at night or toward night, and go off again during the day. They could be easily located on the surface by the ripple. Many attempts have been made to take them with rod and reel at Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands, but so far without avail. The tuna is a gregarious feeder. The flying-fish of California, a fish eighteen inches long and weighing a pound and a half, is the bonne bouche of its choice, and up to August it appears to feed upon this fish entirely. Specimens examined later were found to be feeding on small squids. A fisherman told me that in the Atlantic they came around his boat and fed on 70 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA dogfish (sharks) which he tossed over, and doubtless the big fish does not object, when hungry, to prey of any reasonable kind. The record rod catches of large leaping tuna are as follows: C. F. Holder, Pasadena, Cal., season 1898 183 pounds Col. C. P. Morehouse, Pasadena, Cal., season 1899 251 Gen. A. W. Barrett, Los Angeles, Cal., season T900 164 Mrs. E. L. Dickerson, New York, season 1901 216 Ernest E. Ford, Alhambra, Cal., season 1902 174 Col. John E. Stearns, Los Angeles, Cal., season 1902 igj Gen. A. W. Barrett, Los Angeles, Cal., season 1904 131 P. S. O'Mara, Salt Lake City, Utah, season 1909 153 If all the anglers, one hundred or more who have taken the game of over one hundred pounds in weight, according to the rules of the club, could tell their experiences, a volume could be compiled that in excitement and sensational incidents would aston- ish the world. My own experiences are nothing com- pared to those of others who have played the fish seven hours (Mr. Wood), or been towed from Avalon to near Redondo, twenty or thirty miles (Judge Beaman). These battles, recorded in the Tuna Club books, are among the marvels of sport. The tackle for tunas is a rod not over sixteen ounces or under six feet. The line must be not over a twenty-four-thread. If the angler takes a fish over one hundred pounds in weight with this tackle, he is eligible to membership in the Tuna Club, and if elected and an amateur he receives the coveted blue button, which has cost many anglers thousands of dollars and the quest of years; while others have received it in a single day's fishing. The accounts of the Tuna cups, trophies, INCIDENTS IN TUNA FISHING 71 and tournaments will be found in the chapter on the Tuna Club. We often read of the woman in fiction who skilfully lands her salmon after a long and strenuous contest which takes her up and down, and out into the stream, always winning the heart of her companion; and both are happy ever after. It is not always in novels and romances that women are successful, as in both Eng- land and America there are women anglers who have brought all kinds of game to gaff or net. At Santa Catalina Island it is a daily occurrence to see women take fishes running up to twenty pounds with rod and reel, and not a few have taken the elusive and gamy tuna and the omnipresent black sea bass. The first lady to take a tuna was Mrs. Walter Ray- mond, of Pasadena, who took a one-hundred-and-fifty- pound fish after a struggle of several hours, during which she played the great game with the skill of a man and with additional cleverness. One of the longest contests by a woman, and with- out doubt the most extraordinary catch ever made by one, was that of Mrs. E. L. Dickinson, of New York, who killed after a long fight the second largest tuna ever taken. It weighed two hundred and sixteen pounds — a seemingly impossible feat, as smaller tunas have worn out and utterly demoralized strong men. The extraordinary nature of these catches cannot be realized by the mere contemplation of a realistic photograph. The fishes look large, but they do not tell the story of hours of battling, the nervous and physical strain. Mrs. A. W. Barrett, wife of General Barrett, hooked a tuna off Long Point, and was towed about for seven hours before the fish was brought to 72 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFOKNIA gaff. This fish was an extraordinary fighter, dashing this way and that, hurling itself along the water; now plunging deep into the blue channel to the bottom, then coming up like an arrow from the bow, to dash in at the boat and circle it, performing a thousand tricks to demoralize the angler and wear her out; but all without avail. CHAPTER VII THE TUNA CLUB AND ITS BRANCHES IN all probability the most widely known and most influential angling club in the world has its head- quarters at Avalon, Santa Catalina. There is but one organization like it, the British Sea Anglers' Society of London, founded by Mr. F. G. Aflalo, the well-known authority on sea-angling, whose books are standards and classics. As you enter the smooth and attractive little bay of Avalon, a brown building with a pier out over the water is seen to the right. From its flagstaff floats a blue flag bearing the words "Tuna Club," and down from it are numerous signals and colors, telling that some member has made a catch, and that Mr. T. S. Manning, the genial arbiter pisca- torum of the club and of the town, is celebrating in his loyal fashion. The club house is not five minutes from pier or hotels, and sooner or later, anglers from abroad find their way into its hospitable rooms, and meet the really famous sea-anglers of the world; not only see them, but the fishes on which they won their spurs and honors, as they hang on the walls. The club is a mod- est structure built out over the water, and was devised as a meeting-place for anglers and to aid members and their friends in securing a good day's fishing. Entering, the office is on the right, where Mr. Man- ning holds forth as Honorary General Manager, devot- 73 74 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA ing his time to it as a labor of love. On the left is the locker room for rods, reels, lines, and the paraphernalia of the sea-angler. The upper part of the building is devoted to sleeping-rooms. The front of the second story is a sun piazza, from which the angler may look out on the tuna fishing-grounds. Passing through the hall to the front, the visitor enters the large living- room, with heavy oaken beams, all in browns and russets. The room has comfortable furniture, a library of the principal angling books of the day, and various old ones. An interesting feature of the library is the number of autograph copies of works on angling by members of the club. Dr. Henry Van Dyke, F. G. Aflalo, Gifford Pinchot, Caspar Whitney, Charles Hallock, David Starr Jordan, Theodore Van Dyke, Grover Cleveland, Charles F. Holder, and others have contributed their works. On the table are the big silver cups of the various branch clubs, as the Three- Six and the Light Tackle, filled with the semi- tropical flowers of the island. On the table are angling and other magazines and publications of the day. Here are charts and maps of the coast; for many of the members are yachtsmen, their yachts lying in the bay. With the opening of the Panama Canal these will be augmented, many of the yachts of New York spending their winters in Southern California waters. What will impress the visitor in this comfortable- but modest room is the mounted fishes, telling the story of the Tuna Club's work in revolutionizing sport and elevating the standards. Here is the record tuna — two hundred and fifty-one pounds, of Col. C. P. Morehouse of Pasadena; the splendid twelve-foot, > Jit ... , \?* *#._•♦>» * # >\ 3 J* if" > ."Z- Z /-> LOS CORONADOS 207 of the sea. It can be found readily by yachtsmen and fishermen, the northwestern end lying about twenty- seven miles 164 true (s.s.e. f e. mag.) from the eastern end of San Nicolas Island, and about thirty-seven miles 247 true (s.w. f w. mag.) from the northern end of San Clemente Island. Cortez Bank, which lies to the south, is the real "lost island," as this submerged mountain rises from water over half a mile deep to within fifteen feet of the surface, and has an area of about twenty-five miles long and eight miles wide. At some points the depth is six hundred feet, but the shallow portion is over Bishop's Rock at the south- ern portion of the bank. The south end of the bank lies about thirty-eight miles south-southwest from the south end of San Clemente Island. The exact direc- tion may be found in the "U. S. Coast Pilot." Bishop's Rock, which is the summit of this moun- tain of the sea, or the remains of a lost island, has but fifteen feet of water over it; even in smooth weather the sea breaks, while in rough weather the summit is a mass of foam. For several miles west of the rock there is from fifty to seventy feet of water on which is often a heavy ground swell. In almost any civilized country such a menace would have a buoy or a lighthouse or something to warn the mariner, but Bishop's Rock is only charted, and how many galleons of old times or ships of modern days have gone down on the lost island it would be difficult to tell. On very smooth days the bottom shows rocks covered with richly colored weeds, waving in the curious currents which sweep in and about the summit seemingly without rhyme or reason. 208 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA "The Coast Pilot" says: "Navigators should exercise great caution when in this vicinity." Navigators will doubtless give it a wide berth. The latitude is 32 25' north; longitude 119 07' west. The oceanic rivers here and about the east end of San Clemente are extraordinarily fickle. I have seen the current stop suddenly when it had been running two miles an hour, and soon begin to run in the oppo- site direction; and fishermen tell strange tales of the currents of the Banks of Tanner and Cortez where old bells are said to toll on stormy nights, and weird craft are seen sailing across the shallows. Now and then some one describes the walls and towers of a city some one has seen on Cortez. They trace battlements and bastions, as Lowell traces canals on Mars, but no one else can see them. Yet there is a fascination in dreaming dreams awake of some ancient city that once stood here, and that in a single big throe of the earth was wiped out of existence and is now the abode of fishes and smothered in the forests of winding kelp. There are many phenomena of the sea that seem mys- terious and unaccountable in the absence of knowledge. Some years ago I was coming in from San Nicolas Island in the large yacht of a friend. It was a dead calm when we made Santa Barbara Island, and the sea was as smooth as glass. Suddenly we ran into a ground swell — quite the most extraordinary exhibi- tion I had ever seen in blue water, and I have been at sea in all kinds of weather, from a West Indian hurri- cane to a "herd" of water spouts. We ran into it without warning, and as the big rollers came up astern they looked like mountains, and the impact was almost sufficient to have jerked the masts LOS CORONADOS 20d out of a poorly equipped vessel. There was not a breath of wind, yet these extraordinary waves came piling after us for twenty minutes, when we ran out of them. If any one of them had broken, it certainly would have played havoc with the yacht. The worst cyclone I ever saw nearly dismasted the frigate Dale, upon which I was a midshipman. I never saw so high or so menacing a sea; I attributed it in my igno- rance to an earthquake, but when we reached Avalon no one had felt a shock, and for a long time it was a mystery. One day I glanced at a chart, and on that identical spot was the summit of a submarine moun- tain, the lava peak ranging from twenty-six to seventy fathoms below the surface and covering a large area, rising out of water half a mile deep. It was named "Osborne Bank," and the big waves were occasioned by the currents and conflicting tides about this "lost island" lying unsuspected below us. I related this incident to the captain of the Cabritto, the steamer plying between Los Angeles and Avalon, which suggested strange experiences at sea. The cap- tain told me that when sailing from China to San Francisco, one night, suddenly and without warning the man at the wheel saw the compass climb entirely around at a rapid rate. The ship was taken aback and thrown into irons, but she screwed entirely around, to the amazement, not to say terror, of the crew. This was doubtless a whirlpool in the ocean, a maelstrom in the Pacific. Less than five miles from Bishop's Rock on the Cor- tez Bank the ocean is nearly a mile deep. So the two "lost islands" are really sharp pinnacles rising like needles from the deep sea. Whether these lost islands 210 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA were ever above the surface is difficult to tell. A slight submergence of the California coast-line here would make San Pedro Hill an island, while a mini- mum elevation of one hundred and seventy-five feet of the coast-line, according to Smith, would make Tanner, Cortez, and Osborne Banks islands. In ages past, and by this is meant millions of years ago, all this region was pushed up and depressed time and again. The terraces of San Clemente are marvellous pages in the diary of the ages, showing beach after beach raised into the air. With this, possibly, came Tanner and Cortez, until they rose above the surface, only to be beaten down and blown and washed away. Regarding the banks of Tanner, Cortez, and Osborne, Dr. W. S. T. Smith, in his "Topographic Study of the Islands of Southern California," frequently referred to in this volume, says: "As shown by the soundings, these banks exhibit character identical with those of the upper submerged platform. s They are more or less platform-like in character, and at an average depth corresponding to that of the submarine platform, and the descent beyond the six-hundred-foot contour is generally rapid. There can be little doubt, therefore, that these banks were islands only a short time ago, geographically speaking, and that they have been completely truncated by wave action during the most recent stages of marine abrasion." CHAPTER XVHI ASHORE AT THE WRONG TIME IT would be difficult to convince the average mortal that he was really having hard luck when catch- ing a nine-and-three-quarter-pound trout in a region a little short of perfect, — a mountain paradise; yet if my friend Beebe and I had been at Santa Cata- lina in 1907 instead of at Pelican Bay, on the Upper Klamath, we would still have had good trout records, and have added to our experience the play of a rare tuna, which took an unfair advantage of the fact that we were absent, and afforded remarkable sport to members of the Tuna Club, and many more. The big rainbow hangs on the wall of the Tuna Club, and I have never caught a yellow-fin; but when I hear any one expressing surprise, I lead him up to the big rain- bow, which is as long as some yellowtails, and ask him if he has ever taken a rainbow trout as large as that, and which he would rather take. The facts are that while Mr. Beebe and I were at Pelican Bay, Oregon, there appeared at Los Coronados and Santa Catalina a new fish, — according to Dr. David Starr Jordan, at least new to America, — a splendid fish running up to seventy pounds, which the boatmen called the "yellow-fin tuna";' a true tuna, which afforded far easier sport than the big leaping tuna. 211 212 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA If I had not been trout-fishing I could have partici- pated in this fine sport; but, on the other hand, one does not take a nine-and-three-quarter-pound rainbow trout (in the presence of witnesses) every day; so one is on the horns of a dilemma. It is very evident that if you turn your back on sea-angling for a summer something extraordinary happens; and if you are sea- angling, some one is taking giant trout. But once did I strike a happy combination, and that was on the Soquel, in California. One day I fished this charming stream for trout; the next day I drove to the Bay of Monterey, five miles distant, and trolled for sea salmon and white sea bass, and caught them, too. But which has the greater charm? — there's the rub. If pressed for a reply I should say that the sports are entirely differ- ent; there is no comparison between them. It would be manifestly unfair to say that one exceeds the other in charm. In one you have the forests of the shore, the running brooks; on the other, you are floating over the marvellous forests of the great Kuro Shiwo, or the Gulf Stream, and if I must choose I take them both; one, for the strenuous life, for the riotous play to the finish with the big and exciting game, tuna or tarpon, wild, bucking steeds of the sea; the other, for its calm, pastoral delights, its gentle melodies of running waters, and sighing pine needles. When the Sicilian tuna fishermen hear that the big tunas are passing the Balearic Isles in May they hasten to the shrine of St. Sebastian, to give thanks and offer- ings for what they term the "tuna of arrival," for you must know the tuna is as uncertain in the Adriatic as in California. In July, if the gods are propitious, the fishermen off the coast of Southern Spain find ASHORE AT THE WRONG TIME 213 them near Gibraltar, where they are called the "tuna of return." The "tuna of arrival" and of "return" are as eagerly looked for on the California coast. It is true, we do not make votive offerings at the shrine of St. Sebastian, as St. Zeno is the patron saint of the Cali- fornia rod fisherman, and the god Isabu of the rod man of Japan; neither do we hunt for them with nets miles in extent, and herd them like sheep, after the fashion of the Venetians, the Basques, the Sicilians, and even the Greeks, as here we are altogether too rich to care for tuna ragout. Pompano and striped bass are good enough for the American, and the tuna is too valuable to be given over to mere trade; it is reserved for the angler, the man with delicate rod and a thousand feet of line, consummate skill, and physical strength, who comes from any one of the four quarters of the earth to win a little blue button and acquire fame and merit among the disciples of Saints Zeno and Isabu. The "tuna of arrival" is most in favor along the Calif ornias when he does arrive; and the "tuna of return," which is not so large, affords much more sport. The tuna is justly famous. He plays havoc all over the world, up and down which he wanders; the globe-trotter of the fins, a merciless devastator, a "sunderer of companies," rods, lines, and tackle in general. The tuna, like Gaul, may be divided into several parts. There is the long-finned tuna, a game fellow with us nearly all the time; the yellow-fin, here at times, but mostly, it is said, at Japan or off Mauna Loa and thereabouts — still under the American flag, 214 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA but a little out of the way. Then there is the leaping tuna, who, when he is at all, is the "tuna of arrival," and of mighty size, ranging upward to half a ton in weight. All these three tunas doubtless breed or spawn in the deep Santa Catalina Channel, California; and all have the same name — Thunnus — with certain specific differences. Thus, the tuna with the very long side fins is T. alalonga; the giant tuna, T. thynnus; and the one with golden or lemon-tinted fins is T. macu- latus; big names, it must be conceded, but then they are given to big fishes which rank at the top of the list of the great game fishes of the world, on whose arms are emblazoned the winged victories, and whose crest is a fish rampant. The "tunas of arrival" or of "return" are in a sense the masters of the sea. Big, powerful, rapacious, they owe allegiance to none except the sharks; and the latter capture them only when great schools are massed, and the white man-eater or the bonito-slayer charges into them blindly or catches one in the toils on a line. As the tuna and its movements are one of the mys- teries of the Balearic Isles, Messina, and the waters in the shadow of the Maritime Alps, so the sojourners of the Pacific or California islands are an enigma to the oldest habitue of the deep blue waters. In July, 1907, the "tuna of arrival" was reported in the Santa Catalina Channel some miles east of the Cortez Bank and ten or twelve miles offshore. It was made up of a vast school of yellow-fins ranging in size from thirty to seventy or more pounds, which tinted the water a golden hue. They were headed north, and covered an area of several hundred acres. Where ASHORE AT THE WRONG TIME 215 they came from, how long they had been in coming, no one knew; but they were starving, of that there was little doubt, as they rushed at bait of any sort, and entirely lacked the diplomacy, indeed marvellous cunning, which seems to be a common attribute of the yellow-fin of "return." The school was mainly of the yellow-fin variety (T. maculata), but on the out- skirts, and doubtless deeper down, were hordes of long-finned tuna (Thunnus alalonga), their purple and vivid turquoise vestments presenting a marked, indeed striking, contrast to the green and gold of the yellow- fins which were at least twice as large. The long-fins averaged seventeen pounds, running up to forty; while the yellow-fins were all over forty, and big fellows of seventy and eighty pounds were common. These tunas were hunting food, and when they struck a school of sardines or flying-fishes they charged them en masse. The scene was a marvellous one; the sea being beaten into foam, and the air filled with the forms of leaping and flying fishes. One might suppose from watching the school that the tunas were masters of the situation, but the deep blue water concealed other tragedies. Hanging on the outer edge of the great school, and lurking beneath it, was a band of desperate hulking villains, — sharks of several varie- ties, — hammerheads, white-finned man-eaters, lance- toothed bonito sharks, and others, lurching along, like wolves preying upon sheep. These sharks were a constant menace to the school. They picked up the stragglers, kept the main body in rigid lines, and when particularly hungry dashed madly into it, seizing everything that came in their way. The peculiar nature of the appetite of these hunters 216 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA was emphasized by a number of anglers, including Mr. Strafford of Pasadena, who in a sea-going launch were haunting the clear, smooth waters off the southwest lee of the Government island of San Clemente, near Coronado. They were trolling, with two rods out, one to starboard, and one to port, when, without warn- ing, they came upon the school of yellow-fin tunas, whose vast numbers made a strange tide rip. There was no waiting. Ze-e-e-e-e! went the reels, and one hundred, two hundred feet of line went screaming, hissing downward; and the two men held their resilient rods, which bent and swayed in their hands like reeds shaken by a wind. The rush was mag- nificent for about twenty seconds, then came a lull, deadly and ominously sudden, and two men reeled in their lines as a shark, certainly fifteen feet in length, rose and shook a big yellow-fin tuna literally in their faces. The sun flashed on it for a second, then the blue waters, now dyed a deep incarnadine, subsided. The onslaught of the shark drove the school several hundred yards away, where it was again picked up, and as soon as the sardine bait crossed it a tuna was hooked. Indeed, the fishes fought for it, boiling along the surface, the victor dashing down to the measure of the singing reel; but the moment the fish left the school and entered the region below, two or three hulking big sharks darted ahead, and up into the air went the tuna quivering in the light, its Midas-like tints flashing, to fall back into the jaws of the shark. This time the shark swallowed the tuna, hook and all, and the angler, in fierce disgust, out of patience, struck, and struck hard. ASHORE AT THE WRONG TIME 217 For a moment the line did not move, then it cut the water like a knife, causing a sharp hissing sound, while the reel screamed and the rod bent like a tree in a cyclone, the angler vainly pressing his thumb on the brake. The boatman, recognizing the situation, turned on the power, and in a moment the launch was racing after the big game trying to save the line. Any one who has played a fish of over two hundred pounds, with rod and reel, well knows the futility of such an attempt, and the feeling of helplessness which comes over the angler when the line is racing, screaming, out, and the force is seemingly irresistible. In a few moments the launch caught up or succeeded in getting sufficient headway to enable the angler to stop the rush of line, and then came the struggle. The tackle was a typical old-fashioned tuna rod of sixteen ounces and a twenty-one-thread line tested to a break- ing strain of forty-two pounds, and there was necessity for caution. The strain was terrific, and the rod more than once seemed on the point of buckling. The shark was boring down into the sea, which practically had no bottom, and as it felt the strong hand of the angler it began a long, sweeping, rising side rush, which brought it to the surface two hundred feet away, where it lashed about tossing the spray in air, then surged on in a great circle. It was now the angler's time, his hour, his minute, and he worked at the big reel, taking in the line, the launch meanwhile running in a smaller circle and coming nearer the big game, which was manifestly worried and winded by the strange strain upon it. Time after time, the shark circled the boat, and at last the boatman picked up the long gaff, holding it 218 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA in his right hand, managing the wheel with his left. "Now then!" cried the angler, as with a supreme effort he stopped the shark. The gaff slipped under the ugly jaw; the man lay back as the big tail came around, sending spray and masses of water at them; held with all his strength while the monster tuna-killer rolled over and over in its agony, rolled and struck, snapping like a bull-dog. The gaffer gradually hauled it up, having stopped the engine, — held it with one hand, and with the other gave the tuna-killer its quietus with a sharp knife, ending the long and difficult catch with a sixteen-ounce rod and a twenty-one-thread line. By this time the school of tunas had moved a mile north, and had evidently spread out, making the danger from sharks much less. That this was true was soon shown, as the line, a number nine, now tossed over, stiffened out almost at the start, and the lithe resilient nine-ounce rod bent and bowed as the angler gave the tuna the butt, then straightened up as he released the pressure on his thumb pad. The boatman mean- time turned the launch after the flying fish, endeavor- ing to stop it before it carried off all the nine hundred feet of line. Almost invariably the leaping tuna will plunge to the bottom when hooked in deep water, and this initial rush is often so tremendous that it is entirely irresistible; but the yellow-fin, the "tuna of arrival" (for he is a very late arrival on these happy angling grounds), very frequently disdains this common route to the region of broken tackle and makes a clean rush away upon the surface, — a performance that is in every sense a "sunderer of companies," the fish at times TUNA CLUB LIGHT-TACKLE EXPERTS Gaffing the yellowtail (first and last pictures) — Lieut. Potion landing a yellowtail (over keenly pounds) with six-ounce rod — Lieut. George S. Potion, Mr. Shaver, and Mr. Warren playing thirty-pound long-tinned tunas on j-6 tackh — Mr. Ormsby Phillips playing lw:nt y-fiw-pound yellowtail with j-6 tackle SCENES IN AVALON BAY The boatmen's pier — Photographing a catch — Mexican Joe — Throwing out the long-finned tunas ASHORE AT THE WRONG TIME «19 making a rush that unreels the longest line. But there was no such hysterical play; the launch was under full speed before all the line was unreeled, and so enabled the angler to press his thumb brake or stall upon the thread-like line and slowly bring the fish down, stop the reel, and accomplish that miracle of angling — the towing of a boat by a threadlike line. To see a one-hundred-and-eighty-pound tuna, six feet long, tow about a boat with two men for four hours, by a twenty-one-thread line with a breaking strain tested to forty-two pounds, is seemingly the im- possible, but it is not uncommon in tuna-fishing after the boat has been gotten under way. For a tuna to start a boat with such a line would be im- possible, but once under way, either by "oars or engine, it is an easy matter. A single man cannot start a car on a track, but after it is started he can push it for miles. The tuna swam on, boring away on the surface. The launch steamed after it, the angler reeling when he could; now losing ten or twenty feet as the splendid fish gained. Keyed up to the highest pitch of excite- ment, the angler sat holding the light rod, which trembled and bent to the danger-point under the fierce rushes; now feeling that he had the advantage, now in despair as the fish plunged down into the blue water, yet all the while he was working to bring it up. He watched intently for the gleam of gold and silver, then reeled with all his strength as the great game came surging up out of the depth to course along the sur- face again, gleaming in golden glints as the sun struck it, to swerve to right or left, as fear suggested, to be fought at last to a standstill by the delicate line. 220 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA All this time the angler had expected to see a shark dash at the game and take it, but the luck was all the other way, and the yellow-fin, always a gallant fighter, came slowly to the gaff and was lifted in to receive its quietus just an hour and a quarter from the time it was hooked. The great tuna, Thunnus thynnus, is a noble fish as seen in its native element, swimming at the head of an angle of solid compact fishes, after the fashion of geese; but its cousin, this Thunnus maculatus, the tuna of the yellow fin, of the lemon hues, is more attractive, more social. It has the habit of the albacore or the long-fin, and bonito, and consorts with them, rather than with the big tuna; and among the most beauti- ful visions it has been my good fortune to see, is that of this yellow-fin in the Santa Catalina Channel of Southern California, playing about the boat. During the summer of 1906 hundreds were taken with rod and reel, but in September, 1907, I fished and fished again for them, as did others; but few were taken, and I failed to obtain even a strike. If anything more exasperating than the action of these splendid and cunning fishes, which I place in the first rank of cleverness, has been seen (with perhaps the exception of the gray snapper), I have failed to learn it. We were in the launch of Mr. Thomas McDaniel Potter, in perfectly smooth water, so clear that one seemed to be looking down into the very heart of a blue tour- maline, and the most delicate and diaphanous forms could be seen fifty or sixty feet below. This tuna, as are others, is often taken by trolling, but the yellow-fin is a social fellow; he hovers about somewhere below and can be taken by casting from the ASHORE AT THE WRONG TIME 221 boat — so the operation can be observed. And this is the method we employed. Our boatman let the launch drift, occasionally tossing over a handful of sardines or chum at which a band of fishes of gorgeous hues — blue and yellow and silver predominating — charged, rising, seemingly, from the eternal deeps. There were, first, the bonitos, the real humming-birds of the sea, and from these flashing gems one's bait had to be jerked else one would hook a ten or twelve- pound fish. Close behind came the albacores, with long side fins; oceanic tourmalines of the tint the ocean is made of; ravenous, voracious, weighing pos- sibly thirty pounds. From this tuna you must jerk your bait just as he snaps at it, as he is not the game of your choice, and remember, there are thirty or more of these fishes to avoid by constant jerking of the line. But here is your game. Immediately after the alba- core comes the "tuna of arrival." He ascends per- haps from the greater depths, — the personification of strength and dignity. With precision he picks up the silvery sardines within an inch of your lure, but never by so much as a move displays a desire to take it, though he is ravenous for the rest, and sails in and out, turning this way and that, always obtaining his share; then presto! lie is gone with all the rest. I saw this realistic scene, this nerve-racking (to the angler) performance day after day for several weeks, and in all that time I never saw a yellow-fin take a sardine which concealed a hook. They appeared to be absolutely fearless, and the spectacle of beautifully colored or tinted fishes, of thirty or fifty or more pounds 222 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA weight, moving about but a few feet distant, was one long to be remembered. The dominant feature, aside from their color, was dignity. The contrast with the albacores and bonitos was striking, and did not fail to make an impression upon all observers. At the time referred to, our launch was but one among many drift- ing about, curiously enough, all having the same luck with the yellow-fin. This is an interesting illustration of the fickleness of fishes of this class. The leaping tuna is equally exas- perating. I have moved over throngs of them; had them follow my boat; crossed their line of march with lures of the most enticing character, but all to no purpose. Even when they were biting they invariably stopped about August first; so suddenly this happened that it came in the nature of a shock. All of which suggests that angling, like many good things in life, requires patience for its complete accomplishment; and it can be said that this fine game fish deserves all the patience one may be forced to give it. But the trouble with me was that when I was ashore the yellow-fins were biting and numbers were taken, and when I was out and ready for the fray they concluded not to bite — an illustration of fishermen's luck. Still there are compensations: I may some day lure a big yellow-fin with light tackle; and after all, hanging in the Tuna Club is the big nine-and-three-fourth-pound rainbow trout, which I submit is a compensation for being ashore at the wrong time. The following are some of the record catches of the yellow-fin, made by Light Tackle Club members. Many more were taken by the Tuna Club: ASHORE AT THE WRONG TIME 223 LIGHT TACKLE CLUB — BRANCH OF TUNA CLUB, AVALON, CAL. Season of 1906 Cold Button Members and their Catches Name Residence Date Species Weight Butler, W. H Oct. 1 Yellow-fin Tuna 48} lbs. Cotton, Mrs. H. H Los Angeles, Cal. . . Aug. 27 55 ' Earlscliffe, H. St. A. . . Santa Barbara, Cal. Sept. 16 49 Eddy, A. J * Aug. 27 60 ' Dallas, Tex Sept. 21 49l ' Hatfield, C. W Los Angeles, Cal.. . Aug. 21 54 Kremer, F. J Los Angeles, Cal. . . Sept. 30 47i ' Sept. 12 48 ' Potter, T. McD. Los Angeles, Cal. . . Aug. 29 S5 Sept. 13 5i Streeter, L. P Sept. 25 5ii ' Wilson, G. S Los Angeles, Cal. . . Sept. 1 47 CHAPTER XIX THE SAND-DUNES OF THE ISLANDS AMONG the extraordinary features of the islands, and particularly of San Clemente and San Miguel, are the sand-dune sections, mysterious areas where pure sand of the most elusive and subtle character seem to have taken possession of the island. Approaching Howland's on the west end, one sees, about two hundred yards north of it, on the face of a bluff, a white arrow-shaped object very conspicuous against the cactus-covered bluff. This is a little landmark, a diminutive sand-dune which the wind plays on so delicately, and it is so mathe- matically adjusted, that it has to my knowledge never materially increased or diminished since I first saw it twenty years ago. It still stands as a beacon to the mariner, seeking the often forbidding shores of San Clemente. The sand-dunes are found a mile or two north of Howland's at the Isthmus and on the northwest shore, presenting from the ocean a white line just above the rocks. There is no sandy beach for the sand to blow up from, no stated supply, as it were; yet here, con- jured by the winds that eternally come in from the deep sea, the dunes play an extraordinary part in what might be called the life of the island, as they move, change, come and go, as if possessed of some weird personality. 224 THE SAND-DUNES OF THE ISLANDS 225 I well recall my first visit to the sand-dunes. We were in camp at Howland's, then the home of one Gallagher, hermit and herder who with Mexican Joe had lived on the island many years. I rode up the canon and went down from the divide to the clear white sand. Where it came from was a mystery, but I fancy it was made there. The wind, which blows heavily almost every day, had blown away the light portions and left the sand clear and beautiful. As I rode out to the dunes I found they were moulded into long graceful lines, gentle slopes of two or three hun- dred yards or feet, as smooth as if thousands of planers had worked at them for ages and made them perfect. The hand of man could not have produced such har- monious carving, such glorious symmetry. My horse's hoofs rang on a crust as I rode over them, the delicate hardening being due, perhaps, to salt. Everywhere, scattered like stars, were bleached snail shells lying entirely on the surface. Riding on, I came to what had been a canon two or three hundred feet deep, but the sand had reversed the action of a glacier, had flowed up instead of down, filling it from brim to brim, and at a distance the resemblance to a glacier was perfect. The sand had flowed up from no man's land; but in places the caprice of the wind displayed itself in a singular and subtle manner. Suddenly I came upon a cone cut out by the wind in so perfect a manner that I could imagine that a great top had been screwed down into the sand, then lifted out by some mighty hand, leaving the perfect cone. At the bottom was a solitary bush or tree, once a verdant living thing, buried and unburied countless times, and now coated with 226 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA lime or silica. The impulse to jump and slide down the incline was irresistible. Dismounting, leaving my doubtless amazed horse the only spectator of my mad- ness, I ran to the brim, leaped as far as I could, struck the side twenty feet below, and tobogganed to the bot- tom; then I had a good climb to reach the summit. Perhaps you have seen the trap of the little insect known as the ant-lion (Myrmeleon), common almost everywhere. It stations itself at the bottom of a cone half or quarter of an inch across, and throws out the sand, I believe with its tail, until a cone is the result, then waits for a reckless ant to topple in. This strange depression in the sand-dunes was a perfect cone, as of some giant ant-lion; as I stood at the top I imagined myself the victim about to slide into the trap. These sand-dunes, as v they are nothing but sand where the witchery of the wind is shown, may be passed by as mere sand, but they deserve the close attention of the lover of nature. One day, lying in a little cove on the northeast of San Clemente, I saw falls of sand flowing over from the dune above, drop- ping silently to the beach below. My companions, Gifford Pinchot and Governor Pardee, swam in from the yacht, and I saw them under the fall sliding down the diminutive dune below the fall where the wind had carved the pile into a beautiful shape, leaving a deep depression behind. I know they saw the beauty of the sand and may have experienced the irresistible boyish desire to slide down the dune. The action of sand under the influence of the wind can be observed from Cape Cod to Cape Florida, the stretch of white beaches being almost unbroken all in -'Jb *- 'y :\ ■', ** * ■■~ 1 *!! | '■'■'''.-.. r ■ " . '■■'; '• 'U f ■ ■■ : t~ : '-Mt;'* p*f£M{^. r : •_'•:*; %;$ ' ' * ? : y . ;;«(■ 7 - l^\\ > ? t"'fx ,; :-*'5ft ; -j : ■ . * -■ :..,;. > : i;-# ' ':"■ ".. '.;• '•OK ' --.' ~\ ""■'■" r 1 * : s ■'.o;. :.>■.'■:. .;•'',';. - '■■-'■&■'■ ---'4 v '--■ ■*" ' ' M \. -:■'■■ W 4 ; ; ^i I 1 * ' ■",;■' >* '.*■-*•' ■". ' J» ■■•'' , % '■■'■.■■ : *'-S '• * . »s ■'•_," G^- * ' ■ .«? " # ' ■• >■■" ■■•i ^oT •'■'*"-' '•... v - ' . •• 9 '■" - i * ■'■■'- M ■ ■ , , » ; K- * • c ' ' .1 1 * ' • - m fc : --' » aV-'i-'.'^V \ * * THE SURFACE OF A SAN CLEMENTE SAND-DUNE, WITH SMALL SNAIL SHELLS COVERED THE SAND-DUNES OF THE ISLANDS 227 down the coast. On the upper cape the sand with its movements has determined the very life of the people. It has shaped the singular arm out into the sea. It forms and re-forms hills, builds up breast- works to battle against the sea, and has a mysterious way of reaching out in direct opposition to the waves. This is particularly noticeable on San NicoMs Island, where a small Cape Cod, half a mile in length, has been projected out into the wildest sea, like the feeler of a gigantic octopus, and, due to the continuous wind, has held its own for centuries. The sand-dunes of the coast have much to do with its character; they make or remake it. At Mayport, Florida, the sand is so persistent that if a fisherman goes on a visit and leaves his shanty unprotected it is liable to be covered on his return. I saw a mound fifteen feet in height which contained one of these homes. Boats are sometimes covered in this way, lost, and forgotten. In the morning the matrons sweep sand from their doorsteps, and the men shovel it away like snow. One of the most remarkable illustrations of the action of sand is seen at the island of San Miguel, the most northwestern of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. It is a wind-swept place, in a continual wind and fog centre, and has no permanent inhabitants save a few herders. The wild winds that come in from the west toss the sand into the air like living things, and clouds, wraiths, go whirling about, borne upward, to drop like snow upon the waters. Cabrillo, the Spanish adventurer — who died and, it is said, was buried here — may lie beneath these dunes. At that time the island was covered with verdure, trees, 228 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA and brush, as are portions of it to-day, but the sand rivers in the course of years have encroached upon it and reduced former productive areas to the state of a mere desert. Not many years ago the region around San Miguel's best harbor was covered with brush and verdure, and when the winter rains fell, it was changed into a garden of green and wild flowers; but to-day it presents a most desolate appearance, and those who land have to wade through the deep sand that is ever piling up and is destined to fill the harbor or reduce it to a shallow. Some time ago a schooner was thrown ashore on the beach, and to show the remarkable advance of the sand, the vessel is now some distance inland and nearly covered by the insidious sand. It has covered the deck, run down into the hold, partly filled the craft, so that from a distance she appears to be riding on a sea of sand, hard, white, desolate, and relentless. All about, as far as the eye can reach, sand is coming down from the hills or going up, covering the rocks and gullies, sweeping into canons, covering the hill- tops, and forming vast slopes by which one can slide from the summit of a hill fairly into the bay. As a picture of desolation and the rapid movement of sand, this place perhaps has no equal. The sand works almost exactly like snow, the slightest obstacle being an excuse for piling up; and along the beach are seen a succession of sand waves, in some in- stances so high that the walker is lost to sight as he moves slowly along. No better locality could be imagined than this great amphitheatre of sand, to observe the action of the wind, which at one spot THE SAND-DUNES OF THE ISLANDS 229 carries the sand up a steep slope, and not far away lets it pour down. The advance of sand is often subtle and unobserved. Even when the wind is low it is moving along; and by lying down on the dune one may see it coming along the surface in well-defined streams. I noticed this particularly on one of the islands of the outer Texan coast, where the sand rivers in thousands of courses were blowing a distance of a mile or more from the gulf across the flat to the inner bay. They moved at about the rate that a man could walk, were inces- sant, and had been for centuries; yet the islands retained about the same shape: the loss of sand was equal to the supply. In 1909 Major Frederick R. Burnham and I visited the sand-dunes of the delta of the Yaqui in the Gulf of California, or Sea of Cortez, as it should be called, and far out on an island we crossed the dunes and came suddenly, in their very heart, upon a radiant arm of the sea as placid as a lake. I named it after my famous companion, Lake Burnham. All about were peace and absolute desolation, but from far away came the musical roar of the distant sea, piling in before the winds that had carved these dunes into things of beauty and grace. The sand-dunes of San Nicolas are a story in them- selves. They cover and uncover the dead; they fill canons, form strange shapes which float in the air before they are carried away. They are eternally moving and playing, like ghostly rivers, about the dying island, as if the wind and sand were engaged in deadly conflict, a fight to the death. Nowhere have I seen mere sand twisted and tossed into the air so 230 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA strangely. But I may except one place — the Valley of Cochise in Arizona, down which gigantic dust- spouts seem to pass constantly out upon a lake of dreams. Here indeed the sand-dune lives and has come into its own. CHAPTER XX GARDENS OF THE SEA THE Channel Islands, especially Santa Cata- lina and Santa Cruz, have been treasure- houses for botanists, as here are found many plants peculiar to the big mountain tops rising from the sea, and many more that are rare and indigenous to the islands strung along the coast. When the eastern country is fast in the grip of winter, when the country to the north and east is ravished by gales, frost, ice, and snow, the Channel Islands are isles of summer, gardens of the sea. I have seen in February the little tilted mesas of the canon back of Avalon glowing in a golden vestment, and found it dotted with yellow violets, now run out, as their home is part of a modern golf links. I have seen the slopes of deep canons quivering with lavender, due to the island Mariposa lily (Calochortus) ; and near Christmas, when the vision is filled with pictures of snow and ice, the islands of Santa Catalina, San Cle- mente, and others, in certain localities seem to glow with a deep red, colored by masses of "holly," — not a holly at all, but the attractive red berry clusters of heteromeles, — that blaze over acres of chaparral on the island slopes. No fairer picture can be imagined than Santa Cata- lina or Santa Cruz in midwinter as one floats along the water, whose blue defies description: then to land 231 232 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA and climb the height of Orizaba, or the hills at Avalon, and from a sea of incarnadine look out on the ocean of sapphire. Far away is the mainland, the high Sierra Madre, the hanging mountains, for the great snow- capped peaks seem crystals from which banners and snow flurries drift off over the valleys of eternal sum- mer like genii of the ice battling with and absorbed by the genii of heat. At such times the angler may wish he were a botanist, that he might take in all the beauties of the plant life of these islands. Some of them have plants peculiar to themselves; and though at first glance they appear barren, treeless, bushless, a maximum rain is like a magic wand converting the dreary and rocky slopes into verdant glades. Even on forsaken San Nicolas, radiant flowers grow, fighting the, fierce wind that threatens to wipe them from the very earth. The angler who does nothing but fish at the islands, and who supposes that this is the sole attraction, loses the essence of the charm of these isles of summer. To enter really into the full enjoyment of the region, one should leave the haunts of men and wander off into the deep canons with some sympathetic compan- ion; go on a trip of discovery; hunt out the little bays at the mouths of the canons, the nooks and corners of verdure, the groves of stunted oak and of cottonwood, the dense thickets of adenostoma, the diminutive forests of cactus, and the wild rocky slopes of the mountains.* * Strangers not accustomed to mountains and canons should not attempt this without a guide; every year men and women are lost here, and it is a sore grievance for the boatmen of Avalon to haul them out of canons and up from precipices. Mountain-climbing is for mountain-climbers; those not familiar with it should take guides. GARDENS OF THE SEA 233 Due to the peculiar climate, the islands have a pro- cession of plants in bloom every month in the year. The first rain comes in October or November, sooner or later; if it is a good drenching one, the change will be noticed in a week, and the brown, sunburnt ground is tinted green by alnlaria, wild oats, and countless weeds, which form the warp of the carpet that covers the land. This lasts perhaps until April or May, when the greens turn to hay and the land takes on deep burnt-umber tones and tints, and new flowers bloom. All this time the chaparral or the brush never fades, so the island and the canons are always green in sheltered places, and always attractive whether in greens or grays or browns. Each of the islands has its peculiarities of flora, and all resemble the adjacent mainland to some extent; some have plants peculiar to themselves, and some have forms peculiar to themselves and to the regions far to the south. If one wishes to see cacti, San Clemente is the place; in the east end the finest and most exasperating growth of the real choya I know of on the California coast is to be found. Here are great patches of various species. But the most spectacular growth of cactus I have ever seen, Mr. Gifford Pinchot, Mr. Charles Howland, and I discovered one day in a knife-like canon on San Clemente. This canon appeared to be a deep crack in the lava or conglomerate, or both, on the sides of which masses had disintegrated, forming deep caves, of all kinds, sizes, and shapes. Out of these, hanging down ten, twenty, or more feet, were swinging in the draft, myriads of snakes of vivid green. The resemblance was so perfect that it 234 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA was more than startling. The snakes were cacti about the diameter of a large python, and they depended from the caves in a most suggestive manner, as if some giant Medusa were resting in the cave, and her living hair writhing in the canon. On the slopes of San Clemente the ironwood (Lyonothamnus) trees grow in strange and interesting shapes. You may see them on the very top of the highest ridges in a line, one following the other, and all together having the appearance of a big lizard or some gigantic serpent or grotesque monster coming out of its canon lair. Sometimes there will be but one, looking like a big mosquito or a cricket. The main island is more or less bare in summer, but an emerald in winter; and most of the canons are filled with trees and verdure the year around; the "holly" berry (Heteromeles) is particularly in evidence. If one is a close observer, the tints of the verdure at various seasons is a delight, — the yellows, reds, crimsons, and straw-tints of the foxtail grass, the green and yellow lichens on the north side of trees, or the grays on the rocks. In the springtime, after deep and soaking rains, Santa Catalina is a garden. Brilliant green patches of cactus, flowering shrubs, groves of wild cherry and cottonwood and slopes of wild oats, masses of lilies and many other wild flowers, attract and lure the walker or rider into deep canons and fern-invested nooks and corners where the abalone glistens, telling that here the ancient islanders found flowers and shrubs ages ago. Where the sun has continued access the slopes are often bare except for cactus, but in among this you will find the poppy, the long- stemmed lavender Brodiaa or the wild onion, and GARDENS OF THE SEA 235 the brilliant red of painter's brush, or the mimulus. A beautiful shrub is the white lilac (Ceanothus cunea- tus), and more beautiful still, the lavender lilac (C. arboreus). The latter is, I believe, according to Brit- ton, confined to the islands. Where this lilac is at its best the color scheme seems to shimmer in the light, to pervade everything. The bush, really a tree, is about twenty-four feet high. It is known also as the tree myrtle. The flowers appear in dense clusters of light blue from January to April; the leaves are dark green, velvety, and white on the under surface. I think one of the most beautiful visions I have ever seen in Southern California was a canon in San Diego County, not far from Pala, in fact the canon this side of Pala and Mount Paloma. I entered it with Mr. and Mrs. Robert Burdette on a motor-car trip. The canon was a solid mass of deep brilliant blue. At first I thought it haze, but it was the wild lilac of California, a near kinsman to the Catalina lilac, peculiar to California (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus). In wandering over the island one sees llanos where nothing particular seems to grow, then, as about the base and radiating canons of Orizaba, there are dense thickets; indeed I once took a horseback ride with Mr. Hancock Banning from Empire Landing to Ava- lon on the coast, and we had a most difficult time in forcing our way through the lilac, greasewood, and other brush. No one has given more careful study to the plants and other features of Santa Catalina than Mrs. Blanche Trask, the island botanist, author, and poet, who resides at Avalon, and who probably knows the real heart of this island better than any one. One of the 236 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA most attractive trees bears her name as discoverer — Trask's mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus traskia), an extremely rare tree, not only limited to Santa Cata- lina, but very rare here. It attains a height of about twenty feet; its trunk is short and crooked, but pic- turesque. Once in coming down from Mount Orizaba I became entangled in the greasewood and led and pulled my weary horse down the side of a steep ravine leading into Swain's Canon on the north coast, where I came upon a grove of dark green trees which I knew to be Lyonothamnus, one of the rarest of trees, con- fined to Santa ' Catalina, San Clemente, and Santa Cruz. Mr. Harry Polley, another devoted botanist of the island, had written me about it long before, as follows: "Dear Mr. Holder: — "Am sorry I was delayed in answering yours in regard to the Lyonothamnus floribundus. The nearest grove to Avalon, and one of the best on the island, is up Swain's Canon about half a mile and can be seen from the beach. Is a thick dark green clump of straight trees about thirty feet high, covering space of one hundred by one hundred feet on side of steep hill one hundred feet above canon to the left; and just across a small canon above to the southwest is another small clump. " Next nearest clump is away up on Black Jack, perhaps fifty yards below the ridge trail to the Isthmus, about on a line between the peak and White's Landing. "Another clump a little way up the left canon from Goat Harbor." There are several groves in the little-visited north or west island beyond the Isthmus. The tree is named after Mr. William S. Lyon, who explored the island in 1884-85. Lyon's ironwood is one of the most inter- GARDENS OF THE SEA 237 esting trees in the country. It has a dignity of its own. It loves conspicuous and high places, where it can look out on the world. At San Clemente I never wearied watching it on the summits, taking new forms as we moved down the coast or climbed the slopes. In June it is in flower, white and beautiful, and can be seen plainly from the old Indian camp ground at the mouth of Swain's. The Santa Catalina canons near the point are rivers of verdure leading down to the sea. I have had some interesting experiences trying to ride them with herd- ers and climbing them afoot. Like apple trees on some of the slopes are the white flowers of the tree poppy (Dendromecon). Some one might have picked giant poppies and fastened them onto a manzanita as a joke, as at first glance one gains such an impres- sion. Standing on the slope of some of these canons the eye often rests on rare plants never seen elsewhere, or rarely. In the winter the canon runs riot with verdure. The little stream revels musically beneath the willows laden with clematis, the wild rose blocks the way, and great brakes and ferns form a luxuriant growth on the canon sides. Rising on the south is the Cabrillo range of mountains, following the canon, its sides cut by innumerable gorges that tempt the stroller. Into them the sun penetrates, chasing out the shadows, and producing a soft opaline haze that softens the landscape and gives it new beauties. As the canon widens it is carpeted (this winter day) with flowers, while great patches of cactus add to its picturesque features. The note of the quail comes on the soft wind, the roar of their wings telling of astonishing 238 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA numbers. Here are shrikes, butcher-birds, robins, and we may perchance catch a glimpse of the white- booted, racket-tailed humming-bird, and others of its kind, darting from flower to flower. Flocks of dove and quail rise as we approach, showing this upland region to be a rare field for the sportsman. The canon widens out at the centre, then becomes narrow again, descending through the rocks to the sea on the south coast, through a delightful region, ending in a sandy beach. Half-way down is a little hamlet, with peach trees gnarled and ancient, planted by some unknown settler, where lunch is enjoyed, and where the goat and quail hunters often make their headquarters. This mountain island is attractive to the botanist. Over four hundred different plants are found here, — many that are rare on the mainland, and some unique. Here Mrs. Wheeler, now the curator of the Chamber of Commerce exhibit in Los Angeles, studied and entertained noted botanists, and added much to the sum of botanical knowledge, no one having truer sym- pathy with the island life. Professor T. J. Brandegee also studied and investigated here, stating that the islands, from the remarkable rarity of their flora, re- minded him of some Atlantis. Professor Brandegee made a list of the plants of the island, noting five hun- dred and twelve species, twenty-six of which have not been seen on the mainland, twelve of the latter being known only on the islands of Lower California. One of the unique plants on Santa Catalina is a dogwood, discovered by Mr. Polley, which bears his name (Cornus polleyii). He also discovered here the five-leaved oak (Rhus diver siloba), and the California holly (Hekromeles arbutifolia), from which is made the GARDENS OF THE SEA 239 tanned bark of the fishermen. Its berries are yellow instead of red. The species of currant, incorrectly called a banyan tree, at Avalon, is the only one not found on the main- land or the neighboring islands. Curiously enough, there are no sycamores here. There is a legend that the pine once flourished, but was destroyed by fire. The cottonwood and willow are the conspicuous trees of the canons; and here Mr. Polley has found the rare oak, Quercus MacDonaldii, known only here and at Santa Cruz. If we are here at Christmas-time, we shall see the beautiful apple-tree-like blossoms of the Crossosoma Californicum — a tree about fifteen feet high. Here is the Malva rosa of the Mexicans, or Laterara. In our strolls we shall find the snake cactus (Cereus. emoryi), and great patches or forests of the prickly pear. Eriogonum giganteum is an attractive shrub, ten feet in height, with silvery foliage; while the plant bearing the beautiful clusters of blossoms that over- hang the cliffs in early spring is Leptosyne. Leptosyne gigantea, found nowhere else, is a most interesting plant. As you row or sail along the island near Cabrillo, the ice plant haunts the edges of the cliffs and glistens in the sun. In the little canon is a Nicotiana, a tall slender plant from which the natives, it is supposed, obtained their tobacco. Here are the golden stars [of the silvery dusty miller (Ertophyttum Nervinii), found nowhere else than at San Clemente and Santa Catalina. In some of the canons to the north of Avalon is the wild cherry of Catalina, with its glossy leaves, which I can see as I write, from my window at Pasadena, having an island tree on my 240 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA place. Its big luscious-looking cherries are to some extent shams, being almost all seed. Midway between Little Harbor and the Isthmus is a grove or forest of oaks, and there are cottonwoods (Populus trichocarpa), and mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus pomfoleses). The island oak (Quercus tomentella) is another rare tree. It attains a height of nearly sixty feet, and is found only at Santa Catalina and Guadalupe Island far to the south on the Lower Californian coast. Its common name is the island oak, according to Engel- mann. The Catalina variety is a fine tree at its best, round-topped and beautiful. In its neighborhood we shall find the port-stained trunk of the manzanita (Arctostaphylos diversifolia) with willow-like leaves. A volume might be written on the trees and plants of these islands alone, yet people visit them year after year and leave under the impression that they are treeless. Going from San Clemente to Santa Cruz, the latter appears to be densely wooded — as it is, compared to the rest. Owing to the heavy and dense fogs, the hills are well covered. The Italian and Swiss owners have brought trees from Italy. The beautiful round-topped spruce stands at the ranch house, and I have sat beneath its grateful shade. Here are groves of eucalyptus, pines, and firs, splendid oaks vying with those of the mainland. The rarest tree at Santa Cruz is the Torrey pine, a forest of which can be seen at Del Mar near San Diego. Those observed by me at Del Mar were stunted by the wind, but a specimen at La Jolla was a large fine robust tree. No one should leave California without seeing this forest, according to Bridgeman, "the most local and probably the rarest of the pines of our region." I once spent GARDENS OF THE SEA 241 a day in the little forest. Its peculiar restriction or limited area is one of the real wonders of California. I can but hint at the ferns and luxuriant growth of the canons of nearly all the islands, especially Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa. Here great ferns and brakes rise everywhere in forests, and as at Santa Catalina rare and interesting forms are seen. Nearly all the islands have many of the common California plants, the wild cherry, the cacti, and the sumach. Here the elder is a good-sized tree. In Avalon canons I have seen a scarlet honeysuckle almost covering a tall alder, forming a vivid splash of color. Over the cactus runs the Chile cothte (Echnocystis fabacca), sometimes climbing tall trees, again creeping along the ground. The snow of the islands, in June, is the white blossom of the greasewood (Adenostoma), just as the snow of the Southern California mainland is the orange petals that whiten the ground. CHAPTER XXI A PASSING ISLAND: SAN NICOLAS TO make the trip to San Nicolas I would advise a fifty or sixty ton yacht: yet I have known men to go in a skiff; the Indians sailed it in their canoes; and small fishing-boats of twenty-five feet or more make it readily. The island lies so far offshore that it is exposed to all the winds that come down the coast, and appears to be an island against which the wind gods have an especial grievance. Three times I started in a sixty-ton yacht before I finally reached San Nicolas. Each time we were blown off, but on the last attempt we determined to stand by it. The close-reefed yacht laid to somewhere between Santa Barbara Rock and San Nicolas in mid- channel, but about four o'clock we feared it "would blow the sails out of her, so we squared away with the jib and power and ran into Santa Catalina Harbor, — a shelter that Cabrillo doubtless sought many times in 1542, — the only perfect refuge on any of the islands. This must have been the anchorage of Vizcaino when he was driven about by the storms of winter. There is much in his accounts relating to running to San Clemente for shelter, the worst place to go. This harbor must have been the refuge of all the mariners caught at the islands in a gale. In running for San Nicolas from Santa Catalina we pass by Santa Barbara Rock. The former is the outer- 242 A PASSING ISLAND 243 most of all the islands — fifty-three miles from the nearest mainland,— and we logged about ninety, I think, from Ayalon and seventy-five from Catalina Harbor. It lies but twenty-four miles beyond Santa Barbara Rock, and is forty-three miles west of the west end of San Clemente. It lies so far out to sea that it has little or none of the protection afforded by Point Concepcion, hence receives the full force of the wind. I have seen San NicolcLs standing out clear and distinct, from the summit of the Sierra Madre back of Pasadena, as a remarkable mirage, and on a clear day it can be seen nearly forty miles, or to be exact, forty miles on the level. The island is about eight miles long, extending east and west, and has an average of three miles in width, although it seems more than that when butting into the wind and flying sand. In the centre is a hill or mountain rising to an altitude of about eight hun- dred and ninety feet, a conspicuous object from many miles away. I have never seen its summit, — there was always a fog cloud; perhaps the fogs are born here. The island is practically surrounded by kelp beds, which are very thick in places and dangerous at the landing. As we went in on a big roller I could see it squirming and folding like snakes everywhere beneath us. To capsize in it would be unfortunate, as swim- ming would be practically impossible. We anchored off a long attenuated sandspit that is a feature of the southeast end. Here the cliffs were about one hundred feet high and the sea came whirling around the island meeting another sea coming around the point, making one of the most disagreeable anchor- ages I have ever found. In addition to this the cur- rent ran like a mill-race and changed without seeming 244 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA reason. Add to this a howling, screaming, offshore wind that played a mournful dirge in the rigging, and some idea of the conditions at San Nicolas can be had. Our landing was made in the surf and kelp, a dangerous place, waiting for the rollers to exhaust themselves, — they roll in in threes. Then when the opportunity came we rushed the boat in, leaped into the water as she struck, and carried her up the beach. I have heard of mild and beautiful days at San Nicolas, but the single herder, a Basque, informed me that it blew pretty much all the time. The reason was that the people came over to disturb the graves, and the spirits were angry, and so made the wind blow. As politely as he could he entered an objection against any grave-robbing. This explanation of the wind was interesting and new, and the spirits evidently were wrought up that night, as an angry cloud hung about the peak of the island, and the wind blew from all quarters during night. The Basque was a herder who had been there four months; an uncommunicative person, who looked like Robinson Crusoe, with his wolfish dog, his big hat, and his ancient gun. He told me that he had to pile big rocks on the roof of his house to keep it from blowing away into the sea. He said that the wind blew small stones into the air, and one could not face it. In the upper island I found a singular place covered with small worn pebbles the size of a pea or two peas. The wind had blown off all the soil and left the pebbles. I have never felt a more irritating, searching, pene- trating wind than this wraith of the spirits of San \ s 2 F ; »/l e !/&• •i >r;i 1/ '--■■ 2S 17 iSftsa £ 7 Si _j V f.; . h Vlt * In \ A PASSING ISLAND 245 Nicolas, yet I found this island most attractive, from its very desolation. The desert is fascinating if one sees it at the right time, and is not hunting for water, or the right road, and it is not summer. San Nicolas is being blown into the sea, and the wind has played some queer pranks here; for example, the mesa of pebbles which leap into the air and blow about, and the wonderful carvings of the wind we found in great natural staircases leading down from the mesa to the beach. On the edge of the mesa there were carvings by the spirits and the wind, that seemed surely of human make, so regular were they. Desolate as this spot is, it had at one time a large and vigorous population; on this trip we could not walk one hundred feet without coming across some relic of the ancient people who once lived here. There were pipes, arrow-heads, spears, good-luck stones, beads, and the prototypes of many objects that can be found in any poor family of to-day. San Nicolas is extremely interesting from the ethno- logical standpoint, and of all the islands it is the only one regarding the appearance of whose original inhabi- tants any one knows anything definite. A woman was found here years ago, the last of the islanders, and brought to Santa Barbara, as told in a following chapter. As soon as we landed I began to find ves- tiges of these people. On the great sandspit I found graves covered or marked by whale bones, — this seems to have been a favorite method of marking the graves. At the west end there is a mound or kitchen- midden about ten feet high and extending over a mile, made up of shells of various kinds, mostly abalones, thrown here for ages. In this are the graves of count- 246 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA less natives who were buried in the long ago. As each man was buried with all his possessions, there is an object in grave-robbing. Scores of parties have explored here, and doubtless the region has hardly been touched on. As I walked up the island I did not see a green thing; it was summer when all vegetation was dead, but at least two-thirds of the island is a sand-dune, except where the sand has been blown away. Parts are covered with coarse grass, and there are a few scrub oaks. Barren as it appears, I fancy a botanist or even a layman would find a remarkably large list of plants here in the spring after heavy rains as there were few sheep. Mrs. Trask has reported an interesting list, including Astratagus Traskce, the ice plant, cream cups, the sea verbena, Hosackia, Sucedas, and others. Far away, gigantic in the mirage, I saw a spectral horse. San Nicolas is a marvellous illustration of what a change of climate a few miles will produce. In plain sight on a clear day is Santa Catalina with the most delightful climate in the world, and I say it advisedly, yet San Nicolas is generally impossible. I have never camped there, but I am going back some day, as the fascination of roaming over this vast kitchen-midden with its tons of buried implements is irresistible. A friend who camped here for a month, collecting, said that they were forced to shovel sand on the lower flap of the tent to keep it from being blown away, and in the morning they were almost covered with sand. Implements and skeletons are uncovered one day and covered the next. I found one spot years ago which must have been a battle-field, similar to one I found at San Clemente. Skeletons were piled up, skulls A PASSING ISLAND 247 crushed, and bones broken; while mortars, too heavy to carry off, were strewn about — a perfect golgotha. At low tide the flat rocks were bare, and I walked up the beach on them away on the west coast and watched the angry menacing sea. I could hear strange sounds — the gurgling, groaning, bellowing of the sea gods in their caves, and now and then a big wave would roll into a deep cave, and a boom, boom, boom would sound, — the guns of some ghostly ship shaking the ledge and the island. On the northeast side the kelp seems to have disappeared for two miles, but on the west end it runs out for at least three miles. The kelp is the only buoy or signal of danger here, as the Government has done nothing for mariners in this section. Yachts should always remain outside the kelp bed. About one-half mile west-southwest from the western point there are two dangerous reefs. Our anchorage under the lee of the spit, which I took the liberty of naming Ferrelo's Point, after Vizcaino's pilot, is the best, save the mark! In a southeasterly gale anchorage would be impossible, though at other times there is good anchorage in forty or fifty feet. Up the coast on the north side of the island is Coral Harbor, about three and one-half miles from the west end. This is a miniature harbor about six feet across on the inside, with an entrance about twenty feet wide, — an excellent landing for a small boat. Water seeps from cliffs at various points, and there is a spring near Coral Harbor covered at high tide. Just as at San Clemente, there is at San Nicolas a volcanic cone off the west end, a most conspicuous landmark in clear weather, but extremely dangerous 248 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA in thick weather, as it is eight miles northwest from the west point of the island and is forty feet high. It is the top of a mountain rising from the sea, and with nothing to warn the mariner on a dark night except his presumable knowledge that Begg's Rock is somewhere about. There should be a bell buoy here. You can see Begg's Rock ten miles off in clear weather. It is protected by a circle of Nereocystis, or kelp, and a reef runs north and south from it almost three hun- dred feet in each direction. That it is a singularly dangerous peak is evident from the fact that at night a ship might take a sounding of sixty fathoms and five minutes later crash onto Begg's Rock. The last time I saw it the seas were enveloping it in their fury of spume. They would hit it and climb at least two hundred feet into the air— a splendid and impressive spectacle. There is deep water off San Nicolas, especially to the north, where there is a depression over a mile deep; and between San Nicolas and San Clemente there is a cafion over a mile and a half deep. Southeasterly from San Clemente there is an abysmal deep of six thousand feet. All this enables one to form a picture of the pinnacled or needle-like appearance these islands would present if the ocean were to withdraw and leave them dry. Little is known of the history of San Nicolas. It belonged to the Spanish by right of conquest, and in 1542, when Cabrillo discovered the country, it was populated. I found quantities of enormous red aba- lones on the mounds. Despite its desolate appearance, the island was, and is, a fine fishing-ground, abounding in abalones, cray- fish, and game of the sea of all kinds. Yellowtails A PASSING ISLAND 249 rush into Coral Harbor at times, and fairly leap on the sands; and the vast kelp beds shelter myriads of fish. The largest rock bass I have ever seen I took here. All are colored, in imitation of the kelp, a rich dark green. Birds are not so common at San Nicolas as at the other islands; yet the Pasadena Academy of Sciences sent an expedition here some years ago to observe the birds. This undertaking was made possible by Mr. Hulett C. Merritt and others. Professor Joseph Grinnell found a number of interesting birds, among which were the mourning dove, bald eagle, American osprey, white-throated swift, Western wood-pewee, streaked horned lark, American raven, house finch, rock wren, the last probably a distinct species. Among the water birds observed by Professor Grinnell were the Cassin's auklet, the Western gull, which breeds here, black-footed albatross, black petrel, Farallone cormorant, Brandt's cormorant (breeds on the north side of the island), the California brown pelican, which dives down from a height of twenty or thirty feet, the great blue heron, the black-necked stilt, spotted sand- piper, and the snowy plover (breeds here). Doubtless if some one living on the island a year would take observations, this list could be doubled or quadrupled, as birds are blown offshore during their migrations, and hundreds seem to follow the instinct of direct flight over sea and land. The Indian implements taken here are of more than ordinary interest. Some were found by Captain Chappelle of Avalon in coffins of wood. But the most interesting objects he found were abalones placed face to face and soldered together with asphaltum, 250 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA which drifts ashore here in quantities and which was universally used by the islanders. These boxes were filled with choice beads or trinkets, and doubtless belonged to the women; we can imagine them as primitive jewel cases. This collector has lived on the island weeks at a time, and has made several valuable collections, one of which was bought by W. H. Burnham of Orange and presented to the Southwest Museum. Mr. E. L. Doran of Avalon has collected at San Clemente, and has a very attractive collection at his summer home at Avalon. One of the finds is a long stone club, an extraordinary weapon, doubtless a token of office. The Government has published many accounts of these implements; illustra- tions of them can be found in Vol. VII, Geographical Survey. The best collections in California are these of the Southwest Museum and the Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles; the National Museum and the American Museum have good collections. San Nicolas is known to have been ravaged by the Russians from Alaska, who came down the coast a century ago hunting for sea otters, with which the island abounded. It is said that they played havoc with the islanders, robbing and killing the men, and stealing their women. To-day the victims are repre- sented by bones and by their abalones and other shells. These are eternally covered and uncovered by the howling wind. In the past twenty or thirty years a number of persons have lived on San Nicolas; some to collect antiquities and shells, some to study the islands, others to get away from the world. Many were Basque herders, a race which seems particularly adapted to A PASSING ISLAND 251 retirement; again were found men of intellectual attainments desiring to live alone. The Basque Crusoe herder I saw here had no idea of time or news. He did not know who was President, had not heard of the war with Spain, and did not care. He had food in abundance and plenty of "Dago red" claret. When he saw us coming he walked off, followed by his dogs, and he did not like my holding him up and insisting on conversation. The only subject in which he was interested was fleas, and I thought of a Baron Rothschild (or is it some one else?) who is collecting fleas. To illustrate flea trouble, he took his big dog by the tail, whirled him about and threw him into the sea. It had never occurred to me that this was a use for a dog's tail. I obtained from him a "sure cure" for fleas, and I give it as tried out at San Nico- las. You close all the doors, plug the cracks, then boil ten gallons of salt water and pour it into the room. The heat paralyzes the fleas for a second. Now open the door, and the water pours out taking every flea with it. So it will be seen that my Basque Robinson Crusoe was an inventive genius. But when I asked him why he lived there his reply was evasive: "Igno- tum per ignotius." This man had a comfortable shack near a sea-lion rookery, and there were various appliances for caring for sheep. This was on the east end. At Coral Harbor there is a stone house, or was. If you do not see it, dig in the nearest sand-pile and it will be found. It reminded me of Mayport on the south side of the mouth of the St. John's River, Florida. An old boat- man of mine, a Minorcan, went home for the summer; when he returned his house was represented by a sand 252 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA mountain, — it was out of sight. In i860 an otter- hunter and his wife lived here for a year and built a wooden house. It is said that the sand has com- pletely eaten the building away by wearing down the wood. This is a strong statement, but its possibility can be demonstrated by a visit to the Cajon Pass country, where the life of a telegraph pole is very short if the wind can reach it. All these peculiarities are what make San Nicolas a fascinating place. Every time I ride in on that pecul- iar sea at the east end I vow to myself that it is the last time; I never wish to see San Nicolas again. But when I leave, the subtle fascination reaches out and grips me, and I know that I shall go back, and if I were a traveller in the Channel Islands I would turn my back for a few days at least upon the charms and delights of Santa Catalina or Santa Cruz and go to San Nicol£s to see it and its vast kitchen-midden, one of the largest in the world. The trip might result this way: I once told a friend about the island. Being of a poetic and highly imaginative temperament, he decided to go there and hear the wind howl, see the sand blow and the wind gods rail as I described it, painting possibly as I rose. He went to San Nicolas. When I met him, a year later, he said nothing, but there was a gleam in his eye. I hunted up his skipper and this is what he said: "We got there all right, but the wind had died down, and it was a dead calm for a week, warm and beautiful. There was n't a ripple, — Santa Catalina was n't in it." This was in January. So if one goes to San Nicolas hunting the Furies he may be disappointed, though it is fair to say I never have been. CHAPTER XXII THE SEA-LION ROOKERIES IN riding over the mountain trails of almost any of the islands that are strung along the coast of California, from San Miguel to Coronado, one may hear strange roars and bellowings at times rising from the adjacent sea. If one has the curiosity to locate these sounds and find out what they mean, he may follow down the deep rocky canons that lead to the ocean, and come suddenly, perhaps, upon the rookery of the lions of the sea, which can be found along- shore in isolated places. In years gone by the islands gave shelter to myriads of these animals; but they have been gradually deci- mated, until the great rookeries contain but a few. On the island of Santa Catahna the sea-lions are pro- tected, and here, on^the southeast end, is the finest rookery known, when the tameness of the animal is considered; they have been protected so long that they will permit boats to approach to within a few feet of the rocks and the occupants to photograph them. These sea-lions are several times as large as a common seal; and while the latter has a short neck, the former has a long and snake-like one, a ferocious mien, and a mouth fitted with sharp teeth. It is very active, and appears like a gigantic slug, dark and shiny. Sea-lions are very clever animals. They feed mostly 253 254 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA at night, basking in the sun on the rocks during the day. As the sun disappears they tumble overboard, and, in parties of from one to ten, start out, often swimming twenty or thirty miles at a rapid rate, and entering the bays, especially those where fishermen make their headquarters. In Avalon Bay the roaring or barking of the sea-lions can sometimes be heard all night, one or more remaining there until all the fish thrown overboard during the day are removed. They are so tame that the fishermen when washing their fish have had their catches snatched from their hands, and they will often follow the men about and steal the bait as fast as it is put on; yet they never seem to appear above water, just bringing the tips of their noses to the surface to breathe. They rarely venture far from shore, in fear of the big orcas and sharks. There was a troupe of Santa Cruz sea-lions in this country at one time which performed the most aston- ishing tricks. I saw a group of five or six pass a ball no larger than an orange from one to another, all the time poising it on the tip of the nose. The same was done with a large ball, and when it was missed one of the lions would place his nose beneath it and toss it into the air, and carry it about with perfect ease. All these sea-lions would take burning flambeaus and toss them about with the greatest abandon. One rookery at Santa Cruz is virtually beneath a large mountain in a sea cave that extends under the island to an unknown distance. One I found was on a slippery ledge; and when I tried to go ashore the sea-lions came rushing down the rocks, one big bull with mouth wide open, apparently to drive me off; but as I stood my ground (because I was obliged to) THE SEA-LION ROOKERIES 255 he sheered off, plunged into the ocean with the rest, and swam rapidly up the coast with loud, barking roars. The point where sea-lions are mostly caught on Santa Cruz is on the southwest side of the island, where the sea often makes a breach against the high cliffs. In an isolated cleft is a large rookery impossible to reach in rough weather, but so placed that the herd cannot well escape when the men go ashore. The outfit includes a number of skilled cattle men, who, with several boxes or cages on a power launch, anchor off the island and wait for a day when the lipns are all on the rocks. Then the rowboats work carefully in, watching their chance, the rowers backing, and hold- ing the boat on the big waves until the men have an opportunity to jump ashore. Generally two or three men make the attempt at one time, and drive the lions back for some distance into a cul de sac. When the animals find that they are cornered, they turn and charge the men, and it requires no little nerve to stand and face the open mouths of the roaring animals, as they come on with a curious galloping motion. It is at this time that the men use their lassos. The moment the reata falls and the game is caught, the men dash for the rocks, where they can take a turn with their ropes, and the struggle begins, the lions making desperate efforts to escape. Some break away, biting off the rope or slipping it over their heads; others reach the water, and the men have to be active to escape the horde of crazed animals (some of which weigh one thousand pounds) which come sliding down the kelp toboggan. After a long struggle the sea-lions are mastered; the ugliest are gagged, bound, thrown 256 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA over, and towed to the boxes, into which they are placed. Later they are hoisted aboard the launch and carried to Santa Barbara, from which place they are shipped to museums or zoological gardens all over the world. The greatest complaint against sea-lions comes from fishermen, who say that they visit their nets or seines and take out the fish. I have observed this myself. A sea-lion stationed itself near a net in the kelp, and every few minutes plunged down, and swam along the net, biting off the body of every fish that became gilled. This was done despite the fact that I was near in a boat, as was also the Italian owner of the net. He hurled imprecations at the sea-lion when it came up with a big rock bass and deliberately tossed it in air, as if to irritate the fisherman, who, while robbed in the grossest manner, was prevented by law from shooting the robber. The rookery at Seal Rocks, on the east end of the island of Santa Catalina, is the best known and most available. Thousands visit the rookery and photo- graph the sea-lions. In the spring the females and young can be seen on the beach, the young learning to swim in the shallows; but they are desperately afraid of the water at first. Nearly all the islands have these rookeries. A Basque hermit on San Nicolas told me that he was terrified by their roars at times. The sea-lions at these islands are protected and are increasing. In former years what is known as Cabrillo and Catalina Harbor — a land-locked bay — was the home of a large herd of sea elephants, which were doubtless exterminated by Captain Scammon and his men. It is very doubtful -■-■W--- r -W glass Bcm^ I POWERJO;" GLASS-BOTTOMED BOATS AXD SEA-LION ROCKS, SAXTA CATALINA ISLAXD THE SEA-LION ROOKERIES 257 if any can be found now this side of Kerguelen Land, though there may be a few on the islands of the Gulf of California. This is Macrorhinus leoninus, the males of which have been seen twenty or more feet in length. Some of their bones have been found at Catalina Har- bor. According to Scammon, in former years there were rookeries on many of the islands, just as there are sea-lion rookeries to-day. Scammon thus refers to them: "The habits of these huge beasts when on shore, or loitering about the foaming breakers, are in every respect like those of the leopard seals (that is, the Pacific harbor seals). Our observa- tion of the sea elephants of California go to show that they have been found in much larger numbers from February to June than during other months of the year. But more or less, we at all times found them on shore, upon their favorite beaches, which were about the Islands of Santa Catalina, Cerros, Guada- lupe, San Bonitos, Natividad, San Roque, and Asuncion, and some of the most inaccessible points on the mainland, between Asuncion and Cerros. When coming up out of the water they were generally first seen near the line of surf, then crawled up by degrees, frequently reclining as if to sleep; again moving up or along the shore, appearing not content with their last resting- place. In this manner they would ascend the ravines or 'low downs,' half a mile or more, congregating by hundreds. They are not so active on land as the seals, but when excited to inordi- nate exertion, their motions are quick, the whole body quiver- ing with their crawling, semi-vaulting gait, and the animal, at such times, manifesting great fatigue. Notwithstanding their unwieldiness, we have sometimes found them on broken, ele- vated ground, fifty or sixty feet above the sea. "The principal seasons of their going on shore are when about to shed their coats, when the females bring forth their young (which is one at a time, rarely two), and the mating season. These seasons for 'hauling up' are more marked in southern latitudes. The different periods are known among the hunters as the 'pupping cow,' 'brown cow,' 'bull and cow,' 258 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA and the 'March bull' seasons; but on the California coast — either from the influence of climate or from some other cause — we have noticed young pups with their mothers at quite the opposite months. The continual hunting of the animals may possibly have driven them to irregularities. The time of gestation is supposed to be about three-quarters of the year. The most marked season we could discover was that of the adult males, which shed their coats later than the younger ones and the females; still, among the herd of the largest of those fully matured (at Santa Barbara Island in June, 1852), we found several cows and their young, the latter apparently but a few days old. "When the sea elephants come on shore for the purpose of shedding, if not disturbed, they remain out of the water until the old hair falls off. By the time this change comes about, the animal is supposed to lose half its fat; indeed, it sometimes becomes very thin, and is then called a 'slim skin.' "In the stomach of a sea elephant a few pebbles are found, which has given rise to the saying that 'they take in ballast before going down' (returning to the sea). On warm and sunny days we have watched them come up singly, on smooth beaches, and burrow in the dry sand, throwing over their backs the loose particles that collect about their fore limbs, and nearly covering themselves from view. But when not disturbed, the animals follow their gregarious propensity, and collect in large herds." Elsewhere he speaks of one hundred and sixty-five as the largest number he ever saw together in one herd. Among the earless seals, the sea elephant appears to stand quite alone, in the very great difference which exists in size between the male and the female. This is almost as great as that between the sea-lion bull and his cow. The sea elephant takes its name from the long, wrinkled proboscis or extensible snout, which is seen THE SEA-LION ROOKERIES 259 in the male. Just what the purpose of this may be does not appear to be known. While the rookeries of the sea-lions are called "seal rocks," seals are not in evidence; in fact I have seen a seal at Santa Catalina but once, and this big fellow followed me about, taking my bait with exasperating skill. Once I hooked and played him for a few seconds, or until he twisted my line around a mooring. CHAPTER XXHI THE ISLAND OF THE SACRED CROSS: SANTA CRUZ IT is said that Cabrillo often entered Prisoner's Harbor in Santa Cruz. We tried to imagine his caravel lying in the lee, as we beat up one radiant morning from Anacapa in the good yacht San Diego, Captain W. H. Burnham, the owner, in com- mand. Above the anchorage the island mountains rose, tier after tier, covered here and there with a thick growth of pine, manzanita, and other trees, from which waved filaments and pennants of moss. Lead- ing away from the harbor was a deep canon, from which, while we waited on the pier, where a large sign gave notice that intruders were not wanted, the rumble of wheels was heard, and a pair of sturdy horses ap- peared, dragging a trap filled with ladies and children. It so happened that we had letters to the owner, Jus- tinian Caire, which insured us welcome to the island, and to one of the most picturesque ranches on the Pacific Coast. From the sea, Santa Cruz Island is a jumble of lofty hills and mountains, with deep gorges and canons winding in every direction. Hidden away in the very heart of this island is an ideal ranch, with a pronounced foreign atmosphere, in a climate as perfect as that of Avalon on the island to the south. Seated in the trap, with our host holding the reins, 260 THE ISLAND OF THE SACRED CROSS 261 we turned into the gorge, which in winter is the bed of a rushing torrent that often fills the cafion from side to side, while from lateral canons other streams sweep down, adding to the mass of boulders. The road, now comparatively smooth, followed this bed, and pres- ently took us into a delightful region, winding through lofty live oaks and beneath great sycamores and cot- tonwoods. At every turn some new and striking bit of scenery appeared. All the attractive spots had names. One was Ravenswood, while others bore liquid Spanish or Italian legends peculiarly appro- priate and suggestive. The road wound upward; the horses now splashing through the summer stream beneath gnarled and picturesque oaks, now out into the open, where the sun poured down through rifts in the cafion beneath a sky of tender blue; then plunging into the narrow canon again, where the walls grew lofty and precipi- tous, shutting out the glare of the sunlight; and beyond rose the crests of hills, one above another. A stranger would never have suspected that this stream bed, this narrow gorge, cut through the solid rock of the range, led to so charming a region, as at every turn the scenery seemed to grow wilder and the sides of the canon more precipitous. Here a huge amphitheatre had been eaten out by the elements, down which the winter streams leaped in a series of cascades and waterfalls. The hills were sere and brown in their summer coat- ing, but in the canon, brakes and ferns grew luxuriantly, and various summer wild flowers gave color to the scene. Three miles of this, and the charming cafion road came to an abrupt end. The cafion sides and the mountains suddenly melted away, and the horses 262 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA dashed into a long, rolling valley, where the air was like velvet on the cheek and an incense of flowers and vines filled the nostrils. At one moment Nature at her wildest, with stupendous chasms and precipices; the next, masses of verdure, rows of vines laden with grapes, acres of green gardens, plume-like eucalyptus trees, besides walnut, fig, and others — a gem in the very heart of the island, surrounded by high moun- tains, invisible and unsuspected from the not far distant sea. The Caire ranch has been in existence for nearly thirty years; but probably it has not been heard of in the East, and is known by few people on the Pacific Coast. Yet here on an island, twenty miles out in the Pacific, up a canon almost impassable at times in winter, is a model ranch, presided over by its super- intendent and attended to by sixty or more men. The proprietor is French, and French and Italian laborers are employed exclusively, the original plan having been to establish here a Swiss-French colony. The little valley in the interior and its climate, so similar to that of Italy and Southern France, probably inspired the owner to reproduce a European vineyard here, and so faithfully has the idea been carried out that on entering the valley one can easily imagine himself in one of the wine-producing districts of France or Italy. Not far from the ranch houses is a large vegetable garden for the benefit of the men, making a most luxuriant showing, and telling the story of the rich- ness of the soil that produces vegetables every month in the year. The two ranch houses of brick covered with plaster and whitewashed, with a small veranda and iron balconies wherever there was an excuse to -7> * THE ISLAND OF THE SACRED CROSS place one, have a decidedly foreign air. In front of each is a small, old-fashioned garden, with narrow, winding walks, filled with fragrant, old-fashioned plants. The dining-room is in a separate building, and at the sumptuous lunch our host informed us that everything but the champagne and flour was pro- duced on the island ranch. Standing on the ranch house veranda, the valley was seen to extend east and west several miles, and rising to the summit of the hills were the vines, planted in the European fashion. They were of many kinds, producing the white and the red wines which have made the Santa Cruz vintage famous. A long road lined with lofty eucalyptus trees followed the valley, passing through acres of vines. Near at hand were two large wineries, where the wine is made and stored. It is said to have a peculiar bouquet not noticed in the mainland wines. There are two distinctive seasons at the Santa Cruz Island ranch — the sheep-shearing and the vintage, when the French and Italian islanders are reinforced by the Barbarefios, from Santa Barbara, who pick the grapes in September and shear the sheep twice a year. The latter work requires men of this hardy stock and the finest horsemen, and probably in no other country are men seen riding over such inaccessible mountains. The sheep, of which there are thirty thousand or more, range all over the fifty-six thousand acres of the island, except in the valley in the interior, devoted to the ranch and vineyard. The island is cut in every direction by canons, whose walls in many instances are so precipitous that it is almost impossible for an unaccustomed man to climb them; yet the fearless 264 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA Barbarenos, mounted on native horses, ride over the most perilous places. A most ingenious method of leading in the sheep is employed. The horsemen take out with them three white goats, which, when a flock of sheep is discovered, are released. The latter join them at once, and the goats turn and lead them in the direction of the corral, the sheep following blindly. When one flock of sheep is secured, the goats are taken to another, and in this way they save the herders much trouble. The vintage is a season of jollification, but though in a land of wine, there is no excess in drinking. This was explained by the manager, who said that the men rarely drank water, a variety of claret being made for their especial benefit. This, diluted, each man carried in a small keg when he went to the field, and used to quench his thirst; and in consequence a case of intoxi- cation was never known. Not far from the house is a little chapel, where services are held, and to the west are the great corrals for the horses, the shops for the wagon-makers, black- smiths, tool-makers, etc.; for nearly everything used on the ranch is made here, even the ornamental iron railings. Over the big stable is the island clock — a peculiar sun dial, ornamented by some of the men. Beyond are the quarters of the wine-makers and their dining-hall. In the latter is a list of rules, in Italian, as follows : " Do not throw bread upon the floor." " Eat your soup; it is a nutritious food." "Do not criticise your neighbor at meals." "Do not talk loud," etc. We were shown the great bakery with its rows of Italian bread; the cook-shop, with its four or five Venetian cooks, and all the departments of this inter- THE ISLAND OF THE SACRED CROSS 265 esting colony, which has been in operation twenty or thirty years. I saw but two graves, one of the dead men having been killed in an accident; whence we may infer that the island is a healthful place. In fact, though there was much to see of a novel and striking nature, the climate of this little valley impressed us the most, and we were told that it was almost the same, winter and summer, so perfect that one almost regrets that the island is private property, and that it is not thrown open to the world like Santa Catalina. Santa Cruz has, like nearly all these islands, a pecul- iar charm, and is to Santa Barbara, one of the delight- ful old cities of the coast, what Santa Catalina is to Los Angeles. Long ago it was a Spanish grant to some conquestadore, coming to Andres Castellere under Mexi- can rule, and to-day it is the vineyard and summer home of the old French family of Justinian Cake. I shall not soon forget another glimpse I had of the island. This time we had left Santa Barbara twenty- five miles to the north and the yacht was bounding along across the channel, the wind rising every moment, until, when we were five miles offshore, it seemed to blow half a gale. The skipper held on until it seemed as if we would hit the island. Its well-wooded slopes rose before us in a tangle of fog banners, and great masses of silvery foam-like mist swept down the side — a glorious and impressive spectacle. We were headed for a mountain, Point Diablo, which extended out into the sea, a mountain of rock, and to ram this seemed the object. But our skipper knew his waters. Instead of coming about he kept on. Suddenly the rocky precipice took the wind, the gale left us with just headway enough to guide into a little harbor 266 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA about four times the length of the yacht, a perfect refuge in almost any wind, with the mountain rising all about, and to the west, not a stone's throw, a pebble beach up from which reached a deep, well- wooded cation. There was something magical about it all, as the anchor chain rang down to the hard sandy bottom, and we swung to with just about the safe amount of room. Coming up from the south on a cruise one is impressed with the fact that Santa Cruz is the best wooded of all the islands, as its slopes are often covered with brush and its canons filled with trees, though some parts of it are barren and rocky. We had entered this little harbor on the north coast at Point Diablo to visit the Painted Cave, which has made Santa Cruz famous and the Mecca of many parties from Santa Barbara and Santa Catalina. The cave, more remarkable than the grotto of Capri, is really beneath the mountain, and the following day, while the yacht lay off and on, we took the ladies in the rowboat and pulled in. It was a peculiar illustration of the effect of uncanny places. My friend, the owner of the yacht, could not induce his crew to go into the cave. We first entered a diminutive snug harbor in the kelp and at once faced the great Gothic. arch, its entrance. The water here was as smooth as glass, the trade wind not having started up, and the only disturbance was an occasional ground swell that came silently along and found its way into the cave. It is well called the Painted Cave, as the salts have dyed or colored it in a fantastic manner, in brilliant yellows, soft browns, reds, greens, and vivid white. The first room opening from the sea may be sixty or THE PAINTED CAVE .VXD CUEVA VALDEZ, SANTA CRUZ ISLAND COAST AXD CANON VIEWS ABOUT SANTA CRUZ ISLAND THE ISLAND OF THE SACRED CROSS 267 seventy feet high, the walls beautifully colored or painted. From this room we pushed the boat in and in until we came to a dark door or opening somewhat but not much larger than the boat. As we approached, a wave came rolling in, sobbing, hissing, groaning in a strange uncanny manner, and I noticed that as it swept in, it almost closed the entrance. It was not an alluring prospect, and I did not wonder that the men displayed so little curiosity. There was but one thing to do. We pushed our boat as near the hole as possible and waited for the next roller, and as it filled the entrance we pushed in immediately after it and got through before its successor came along, a proceed- ing easily accomplished. At once we were in almost absolute darkness, a small vivid eye of light repre- senting the entrance. It has been my good fortune to hear some singular noises in my day, but the pande- monium, worse confounded, in this cave under the mountain of Point Diablo at times exceeded any- thing I had ever heard. We had made a flambeau of waste, and tying this to a stick endeavored to see the roof or ceiling; we also attempted to sound the cave, but all to no pur- pose. I should imagine it was one hundred feet across. I found on the side a ledge, and beyond, and under this, were other caves or passages through which the water went roaring, hissing, and reverberating in a series of sounds which I could easily understand would demor- alize any one with weak nerves. There were two ladies with us. Captain Burnham and I rowed, and our fair passengers were animated with a desire for investigation. I am rather inclined to explorations myself, yet I could not but think that if a particularly 268 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA heavy earthquake should occur at that time and lower the entrance a foot or two, we should be imprisoned beneath the mountain. As I stepped out on the shelf, screams, yells, and shouts seemed to come from the dark unfathomed caves far beyond, and all the evil demons of this sea cave apparently sprang to life. At the same time a particularly big wave came in, filling the entrance completely, and as it went rever- berating on into countless other caves, it released myriads of reverberations and echoes until the sound was deafening, confusing, and appalling. The cave was a sea-lions' den. When I stepped onto the ledge I dislodged several by almost stepping on them in the dark, and their barking protests as they dashed out added to the volume of sound. As they swam beneath us the water blazed with phosphores- cence, turning the place into a veritable witches' caldron. I crashed two planks together to find out what sound really was, and we could hear it bounding off and far away into the interstices of the mountain in an appalling series of sounds. Watching our chance, we reversed the operation; the moment a wave came in we pushed the boat through into the dazzling sunshine. If I should attempt to designate the most striking feature of Santa Cruz I should name its caves, as the entire coast on the water line appears to be cut and perforated by the gnawing sea. Some are large and open; others spout water and air with undisguised ferocity; some merely hiss, growl, and moan as the sea rushes into them; while others again appear so far beneath that the compact merely shakes the rock with a dull heavy reverberation. THE ISLAND OF THE SACRED CROSS 269 The cave known as Cueva Valdez, toward the east end on the north side, is quite as remarkable as the Painted Cave. It is partly on land, and will hold several hundred people. One entrance opens on the little bay, really a very good harbor; the other on a sandy canon that leads up into the mountains; and there is a trail along the rocky shore to the east. Almost everywhere I found the black earth and the shell heaps of the ancient inhabitants. There were literally hundreds of such places, and in the canon I found a little stream that was cutting its way through an ancient burial-ground. Visitors are not particu- larly desired unless they come accredited from some one, so I imagine that a systematic search at Santa Cruz would result in the discovery of a vast amount of Indian implements. At the west end we found large deposits of abalone shells. I wandered over these old town sites, watched the little stream which glides over their bones, and the strong wind that exposed their household gods, on the dunes, and I could readily see this charming isle of summer with its mountain-environed canons and val- leys peopled by a race that attained happiness at least; men and women to whom imaginative values had some significance, and who fought a good fight in the field of human endeavor. No one can examine the really beautiful objects taken from these homes — the fish-hooks of pearl, the beads of shell, the weapons of artistic design, the grace- fully carved cups, the mosaic-ornamented flutes and pipes — without crediting these lost people with imag- inative achievements and as being early protagonists of the principle that life and beauty are in some way 270 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA essential. Here I found steatite from the old manu- factory of Potts's Valley, Santa Catalina, showing that the natives traded. I have heard legends from old Indians that the natives of the islands made ollas of soapstone and traded with the natives of the mainland. All the canons of the islands are attractive. Some on the east end of Santa Catalina are never entered and are remarkable for their abysmal depths; those at San Clemente, as Mosquito and others, impress one by their extraordinary depth — slashes of a big scim- itar down into the rock of eternity, leaving massive gorges. At San Nicolas I saw canons carved by the wind into weird shapes, made by it, or by genii's wings; but the canons of Santa Cruz are beautiful, like many on Santa Catalina filled with beds of ferns and giant brakes, banked with the gold and silver backed ferns and other verdure, with the music of running water and the songs of birds. Nowhere that I recall is there such a contrast of verdure in winter and spring, and barren desolation the rest of the year, as at Santa Cruz. One can leave the fruit-laden valley, climb the hills, and look down on drear sand-dunes and on rocks riven by the seas of the ages. The flora here is ex- tremely interesting, and resembles that of Santa Cata- lina and the neighboring shores. Its rarest possession, or at least most interesting one, is the little grove of Torrey pines placed here by the Infinite for some good purpose. To refer to the fishing at Santa Cruz would be to duplicate what has been said of other islands. The same fishes are seen here, but the fishing facilities are not so good, because the conditions have not demanded THE ISLAND OF THE SACRED CROSS 271 it, and many visitors are not welcome yet to this vale of peace in the lee of Concepcion. Santa Cruz is one of the largest of the islands, its long axis being parallel to the neighboring mainland shore. It is twenty-one miles long, extending almost east and west, with an average width of five miles. On the western end a commanding peak rises to an altitude of half a mile or more, or, to be exact, two thousand four hundred and seven feet. Another peak on the east end is fifteen hundred and forty-nine feet high. Santa Cruz has a number of peaks with respec- tive altitudes of thirteen hundred and twenty-nine, thirteen hundred and seventy-four, fourteen hundred and ninety-six, and fifteen hundred and forty-nine feet. On the northern ridge there are peaks of eighteen hundred feet, twenty-four hundred and seven feet, and twenty-one hundred and forty-four feet. According to Goodyear, three-fourths of that ridge consists of volcanic material. From these peaks I have had com- prehensive views of the island and the Santa Barbara Channel. In climate this island compares most favor- ably with any part of the Riviera, as here are none of the hot winds of Africa or the cold breezes from the Maritime Alps. The eastern end, San Pedro Point, is twenty-one and one-half miles from Santa Barbara and four miles from Anacapa; and the deep, riotous little channel abounds, as I well know, in game bonitos, great schools being seen everywhere on clear days. The Santa Barbara Channel is about fifty miles long. Here the United States cruisers and battleships launched on this coast are tried out. The channel between the islands is a canon about half a mile deep. The little channels between all the islands are not 272 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA over two hundred feet deep, and submarine ridges extend from San Miguel toward Conception and from Anacapa to San Buenaventura on the mainland, at a depth of not over seven hundred feet; hence if an elevation of the entire coast should occur the entire group would become connected with the mainland. In the Post Miocene times (several million years ago), all these islands were, according to Smith, moun- tains belonging to the mainland, with the exception of San Nicolas and San Clemente, the latter coming into existence early in the Pliocene with San Nicolas. In the Pliocene depression, during which the sea stood fifteen hundred feet below its present level, Santa Cruz was a narrow island, or a line of islands, about seven miles long. In the vast ages following, the islands literally had their ups and downs, rising and sinking. From the highest peak the green, irregular, pre- cipitous, rocky shores could be seen with little indenta- tions, but no real harbors anywhere. Off to the south end Gull Island rises one hundred and fifty feet high, one of a group of rocky islands one-fourth of a mile in extent, about three-fourths of a mile offshore — a splen- did barrier to the sea in a gale, which leaps into the contact shivering, gleaming in the light. Around Gull Island the kelp forest is very thick, affording a refuge for many fishes — the ever-present golden perch, or angel-fish, rock bass, kelp-fish, black sea bass, and many more. Far beyond the island this garden extends, terminat- ing in blue water a mile to the east. We sailed com- pletely around Santa Cruz and endeavored to count the innumerable ancient abalone heaps and mounds THE ISLAND OF THE SACRED CROSS 273 of black earth. Everywhere the water was alive with fish, though the actual fishing was not so good, at least in my experience, as in the Santa Catalina group. We lay one night in Smugglers' Cove south of the east end in about thirty feet, but the sea came around the bend and formed a ground swell that late in the night rose, and, by dragging the anchor, forced us almost on the beach. There was a little harbor called Alamo on the south shore three and three-fourths miles from Gull Island, large enough for sail boats. The next day we anchored at Forney's Cove, a mile east of Fraser's, on the west end. Here was a vast sand-dune having many evi- dences of ancient occupation. The surf was heavy, and we landed with difficulty. Not far from here we found an old ranch house or a shearing station with a telephone to the main ranch down the island. To the west a long reef reached out to a little island, honey- combed with caves. As the sea came in, bellowing and muttering, it shook the ledge, and I fancied I heard the booming guns of some galleon of long ago. It added to the delight of sailing about this island to know that Cabrillo had landed here in 1542 — three hundred and sixty-eight years ago; Vizcaino and others centuries ago; and it did not require much imagina- tion to refit the town sites with huts, to see the brown naked figures on the sands, and the high-bowed canoes coming in on the booming surf. Antonio de la Ascension, the Carmelite draughts- man, laid out and mapped this very cove. He was here with Don Sebastian on the fourth of December, 1603. If you will look up this date you will find the reason. The channel of Santa Barbara with its "deli- 274 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA cioso" climate bears that euphonious name. What particularly inspired Charles the Third of Spain to gain possession of California was the report in 1767 that the Russians purposed to take it. Lower Cali- fornia had already been invested by the Jesuits; and now the one Superior General of the Franciscans, Fra Junipero Serra, — a faithful son of the Church, an inde- fatigable worker, — was authorized to begin the work of conversion. The splendid pile opposite Santa Cruz, known as the Mission of Santa Barbara, is but one of bis monuments in these parts. On very clear days one may see the Santa Ynez Mountains of Santa Barbara — a beautiful vision. Santa Cruz enjoys all the delights. of the climate of Santa Barbara with some additional favors of less change between day and night. The highest temper- ature ever recorded is not over ninety-two degrees, and the lowest thirty-seven degrees. The difference between the monthly mean of July and that of Janu- ary in Santa Cruz is ten degrees; Cairo, twenty-seven degrees; Naples, thirty degrees. The air is clear, pure, "ddicioso." Surely this is the land of dolcefar niente. But I have said this of Santa Catalina, and I shall probably say it of Santa Rosa, to the west, toward which we are heading with sheets trimmed and the strong "trade" on the quarter. CHAPTER XXIV WILD BOAR HUNTING IT is not generally known that the islands of Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa have colonies of wild pigs, the males of which attain large size, and when followed, constitute game that provides no little excite- ment. Several parties have enjoyed wild boar hunts on Santa Rosa, using the rifle, the deep canons of the island affording seclusion for some large specimens. Adapted to their life in the steep canons and on the slopes of mountains they are very active, and the hunt- ers on foot have to watch them with care, as the charge of a wild boar down a mountain side is not all that fancy paints it. How these pigs were introduced into these islands is not known, but it is most likely that they are, like the wild hog of Florida, the descendants of hogs placed upon the islands years ago by the Spanish. I have chased wild and marvellously fast burros on Santa Catalina, and have often heard of the wild cattle there, one of which charged a friend down the side of Mount Orizaba, but it has never been my good fortune to see the wild boars of the islands, though I have looked for them in travelling over the interesting and attractive island of Santa Cruz. To hunt on any of these islands permission must be obtained, in this instance from the Caire estate in Santa Barbara; for permission to hunt on Santa Rosa the Vail estate must 275 276 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA be applied to. The following description, which appeared in an Eastern publication, gives the attempt of an Englishman to try East Indian pig-sticking at Santa Cruz: "A party of hunters in search of otter and Indian relics landed at Santa Rosa some years ago and made camp on the beach. The guide, one Manuel Sarto, in turning the cakes one evening, stopped to listen. "'What do you hear?' asked a member of the party. "'Ough,' whispered the man, 'wild boars!' "'Wild boars?' exclaimed the other. 'Why didn't you say so before? We will hunt them ; it 's the finest sport in the world ! ' "'Sport?' rejoined the Mexican. 'Is climbing trees sport? That's what I do when I meet a wild boar.' " 'The sport of kings,' replied the hunter, who was an English- man. 'I have n't seen a pig-sticking since I was in India. We will try it, Manuel; not you, but we, eh?' "'Si, sefior,' answered the Mexican, 'not I, but you. But I go if we get horses. These boars hunted the sheep when I was a boy, and my father was a shearer here.' > "It appeared that the herders who kept sheep on the island at this time had horses at the corral of the little ranch house, and were glad to have the hogs killed off. Three were secured and that afternoon the party, mounted on big Mexican sad- dles and armed with rifles, rode up the trail leading into the interior of the island. They reached a high ridge, then pitched down into a canon filled with wild lilac, masses of the island greasewood, and cactus. There was a well-worn trail, doubt- less used by the Indians long ago, and as it gradually pitched down the canon grew deeper, the mountains seemed to shut in. Now and then flocks of valley quail flew up; the wild dove's voice rose on the air with its mournful who-who-o-o, and far away, coming up the canon with rhythmic measure, was the sound of seas breaking on the west coast. " Suddenly the canon widened out and a little valley appeared, with cactus patches rich in green and brilliant yellow blossoms. The hunters had almost forgotten the object of their quest WILD BOAR HUNTING !?77 when Manuel's horse leaped to one side, almost throwing him, when with an ouf, ouf, ouf! like escaping steam something big, hairy, bristling, and black dashed past them. "'What's that?' cried the Englishman, coming down into his saddle again from somewhere. "'I thought you had stuck pigs in India, senor,' answered Manuel, endeavoring to hold his bronco. "'So I have, but— ' "'Carambal Look out!' shouted Manuel, as ouf! ouf! sounded from the brush. 'He come again! He hamstring your horse!' "It was too late. That cannon ball of bristles came bowling over the back track with a wish! whoofl ouf! ouf! and the bronco went into the air in lateral leaps with which the ordinary tenderfoot is unfamiliar. To their credit be it said, the two hunters were not dismounted. One horse went dashing up the side of the canon, while the two others ran into the open, where they were checked, quivering, one of the animals holding up a hoof in pain. "'That was sudden, like the toothache,' remarked the East Indian pig-sticker. "'That is the way he is,' said Manuel. 'You see heem?' he cried to the rider up the canon slope. "'No, but I can hear growling and ouf-oufing somewhere. My horse is frightened out of a year's growth. I am going to shoot that brute on sight.' '"That's the biggest boar I ever see,' answered Manuel. 'He ugly. You see old pig with young in the brush, and when anything comes along he jest drop his head and charge. Tusks like a shark. There he come!' "Ouf, ouf! came hissing out of the brush. The broncos trembled and whirled, and the hunter on the canon side vainly endeavored to hold his bronco facing the canon so that he could bring his rifle into play. The animal was almost crazed with fear and sprang wildly up the side, a bunch of black hair following for several feet. Then the rider let the horse go, and turning, fired into the brush. The pig was seen crashing down. "'Our turn next!' cried Manuel, who had tightened his 278 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA cinch and found that the pig had not touched his horse, but that it had run into a choya. Presently the hunter up on the canon side got his frightened horse down. '"If my horse had stumbled I believe that pig would have ripped him up,' he said. 'Did you see him? Bristles on his back half a foot high, tusks four inches long.' "Manuel had dismounted and was cinching up the saddles and picking cactus spines out of his horse's legs. After he had finished and listened to the views of the hunters he said: "'It's no use three hunting at the same time, somebody's bound to get shot or thrown. That pinto horse, he's going to buck the minute he gets his eyes on the pig, and it's the biggest boar I have seen on the island, old and ugly. I don't want to feel his tusk.' '"Well, what do you suggest?' asked the East Indian pig- sticker. 'If I had a good lance I would not mind riding him down, but this — well, this is different.' "'I say take him one at a time,' replied Manuel, 'and the rest hold off.' '"That suits.' "The words were not out of the speaker's mouth before a rustle was heard in the brush to the right, and with a tremen- dous oufl the boar, which evidently had been sneaking up on them under cover, came at the trio like a cannon ball. It covered the twenty feet between them and the chaparral seem- ingly in a bound, and was among them before they realized it, striking to the right and left. Manuel being dismounted stood not on the order of going, but ran and scrambled up the slope of the canon, while his bronco reared to avoid the animal, then ran away. The two other horses, despite the efforts of the owners, wheeled and dashed off, the boar after them. "The hunter who had stuck pigs in India rallied first, turned his bronco, and forced it at the boar, which had stopped and stood, head up, a picture of fiendishness. It was one of the old-timers without question, combining the qualities of a Florida razorback with the savageness of an East Indian wild boar and the staying powers of a California island wild goat. Little wonder an every-day bronco, which had possibly never seen a pig in its life, objected to its presence. WILD BOAR HUNTING 279 "As the bronco moved up, broadside on, utterly unable to look the strange beast in the face, the hunter lifted his rifle and attempted to aim and hold the bronco in place at the same time. It was a difficult proposition. At the slightest let-up the horse would turn, frantic with fear. Then the hunter elevated his rifle with one hand and let it drop revolver fashion, intending to fire as it covered the game. "Down it came, and just about as the hunter was about to pull the trigger, woufl came the escaping steamlike note from the red, dripping mouth. The rifle went off, the boar charged, and the bronco jumped ten feet, it seemed to the two men looking on, and came down stiff-legged in an awful buck, sending the rider into the air. They saw the boar charge, and spurring their broncos they rushed down the slope to interfere. Manuel leaped to the ground with his rifle ready to fire and literally jerked the dismounted sportsman from the boar, which, however, was dead. It had died before it had an opportunity to use its tusks. The boar was a type of the savage bush pig, tall, long, and slender; muscular, with heavy crest, powerful head, and tusks long and sharp. "'I don't know whether the bullet killed the brute or I crushed him to death,' said the hunter, 'but it was a close call for me. I have seen a wild boar in India run fifty yards with a hole in his heart. Levison, a man in my regiment, shot a big boar on the charge. The animal went by him, blinded in some way, and did not stop, but came for me, I being next in the trail. I tried to fire but missed, and just as the brute reached me it staggered and fell dead. I understand grizzlies will perform the same seemingly impossible feat.' "Manuel hauled the boar into the shade, intending to return for the head as a trophy, and the party moved up the canon, crossed over to the windward side, and stood on the summit, where the cool wind blew in from the illimitable Pacific. Fol- lowing along a ridge they descended again, and Manuel led them into a long, narrow canon which seemed to be populated with quail and doves alone. When they had reached the end of it, where a little mesa or bench appeared on the slope, a small pig was seen standing in the trail fifty yards ahead. It looked at them a moment, then turned tail, and with a wouf, 280 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA wouf! ran down the trail followed by several others. Putting spurs to the horses the men followed, when suddenly from out of the brush came a big boar that apparently did not propose to run. It was an easy pot shot, but the men determined to give it a chance for its life and moved on, while Manuel pushed into the brush to get in behind the boar. "The boar seemed to drop out of sight, for when they reached the spot it was no longer there, nor could Manuel see it from the slope of the canon. Suddenly came the wouf, wouf I as startling as the rattle of a snake, and again out of the brush charged the boar, with crest standing and ugly muzzle elevated. The horses broke and reared, frantic at the sight, but the riders managed to hold them. Then for some reason, unexplainable except for the intensity of Manuel's yell, the boar kept on and the hunters gave chase. It was a fine exhibition of speed to see this big, heavy pig run. The horses going at full speed were not able to reach it. '"We have no use fortius fellow,' cried one of the pursuers; 'try your rope on him, Manuel.' "So Manuel, delighted at the opportunity, pulled ahead, unswung his lariat, and presently had it w hirlin g about his head in a thoroughly graceful manner. At the psychological moment he let go and, in a way miraculous to the layman, caught the flying boar by the hind foot. The bronco settled back, throwing the animal cleverly. "The boar filled the air with cries and maddened squeals, then quickly charged back along the line. Manuel was equal to the occasion. The canon was narrow, there was no field for play, and he had no companion to rope the boar from the oppo- site side and hold it, as he had often done with bears in the old days; so he did the next best thing — twisted the rope around a tree and thus held the boar. It presented a savage spectacle. Its jaws were dripping with foam, its small, black, beadlike eyes gleaming with rage and fear. "'Cleverly done!' cried the Englishman. "After they had examined the old fellow, Manuel as cleverly released the boar, and with all the fight taken out of it the animal trotted off into the brush without even looking behind." WILD BOAR HUNTING 281 A writer in the Overland Monthly of May, 1893, gives an interesting account of the shearing season at Santa Rosa Island, and in referring to the wild hog says: "The latter are very numerous and sometimes attack and kill the lambs. They are dangerous things for an unmounted, unarmed man to meet. Many hundreds are shot every year, but it seems difficult to exterminate them. The foxes are small, hardly larger than a domestic cat, and almost as tame." CHAPTER XXV AROUND SANTA ROSA ROMANCE, tragedy, and pathos have been enacted on many of the Channel Islands lying off the shores of California. In the early years they were all the rendezvous of freebooters and adventurers. Reports of their riches in otter, gold, silver, and hidden treasure were carried north. The Russians came down from Alaska to prey upon the Indians; freebooters came from the Philippines and the East. In the early days the Spaniards turned the attractive island of Santa Cruz into a penal settle- ment, adding to the trials and tribulations of the Mission Fathers, the glorious old adventurers and Christianizers who came up the coast, walked, sailed, and rode under the banner of the Spanish king. No one who knows the coast from the islands to La Paz and from Los Angeles to Corpus Christi, Texas, and down through Sonora over the deserts, but must accord these old padres the full meed of credit. Some of us may differ with them, may object to the wiping out of the American Indian, may point to the almost utter extinction of the California Indians, as a protest against forcible conversion, and see in it extinction; yet as a great exploitation under the banner of the Cross, with a good object in view, the advance of Serra and his followers up the coast of California to Mexico, and the establishment of the splendid Mis- 282 AROUND SANTA ROSA 283 sions from San Diego to San Carlos, and later those in Sonora and Texas and the Territories, stands as a magnificent illustration of human endeavor impelled by the Christian idea of upliftment. Eliminate the object, — the saving of souls, — and the mere physical act of penetrating through and over this arid region with insufficient equipment, depending on the country, marks the work of the early Spaniards and Mission Fathers as among the heroic achievements of mankind. Strange happenings have taken place at all these islands. Wild invaders have vented their strength here; islands have been fought for. I have found the skeletons of dozens of men piled, one upon another, at San Clemente and San Nicolas where men have battled to a finish. Men and women have fled to these realms of seeming peace to escape the world; romance and tragedy have been born in every canon. At Santa Catalina, on the west end, many years ago a man built a home, furnished it, even prepared a meal, and waited for the bride that never came. It is said that he stepped out of the house, leaving the table set and everything as it stood, and never returned. The house still remains. Early in the sixties Santa Catalina was invested with a mining boom. The land was divided up, claimed, and tunnels built here and there along the shore and all over it. Silver ore was found in Silver Canon. San Nicolas, the wind-swept, was laid out in lots in 1886. Desperate attempts have been made to wrest San Clemente from the Government and give it over to settlers; but men would not settle here on any terms, except to fish and enjoy the varied sports. And so, if one could collect the histories of all these 284 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA islands a marvellous story would be the result; and none more pathetic than that which saw the decima- tion of the natives who in the old days, before Cabrillo and Vizcaino, had on these isles of summer an ideal home and knew few of the trials and tribulations which attend modern life. Santa Rosa, one of the most attractive of the Santa Barbara Islands, has been the scene of many a romance, from that of high-bred Castilians to that of half- Indian and Mexican herders. In 1541 it belonged to the natives; but in 1834 it was granted by the Spanish crown to Don Carlos and Don Jose Carrillo, members of one of the oldest and most aristocratic families of Southern California, whose descendants still live here. Don Carlos had two daughters, famed for their beauty and many graces. J. P. Jones, United States Consul to the Hawaiian Islands, met one at the Casa Car- rillo in Santa Barbara and married her, while the other sister married Captain A. B. Thompson. The dowry of both brides from Don Carlos was joint owner- ship in the fair island — practically a domain of forty- five thousand acres, seven or eight miles long and ten in width; well watered, made up of mountain, canon, valley, and mesa, with valuable fisheries. A princely gift even in the early days, and to-day valued at several millions even as a cattle ranch. The two families owned the island jointly, and for years carried on the business of sheep-raising, then very profitable. The island ranch house was the scene of many gay entertainments, especially at the shearing time, when large parties of friends were taken over and the event celebrated by a jollification ex- tremely picturesque from its interesting environment. AROUND SANTA ROSA 285 In time a disagreement arose, and after some litiga- tion Santa Rosa passed into the hands of A. P. and H. H. More, prominent residents of Santa Barbara, who for years carried on a large stock ranch here. To-day it is owned by Messrs. Vail and McVicker, who also conduct it as a great stock ranch. I have seen a number of shearings at the islands, as parts of all of them have for years been given over to sheep- raising and a pastoral life, but in all probability these occasions at Santa Rosa were more typical than any; for Santa Barbara has retained its local color, through all the changes, and the parties of young people who sailed over to the island were representative of the old Castilian life. The hacienda or ranch house of the Mores stands near a grove of cypress trees distorted and beaten down by the strong trade winds. From here one can look out on a little village made up of the various buildings appertaining to the business of shearing sixty thousand sheep — one of the largest herds in Southern California. Some years ago, under the More regime, fine stock and blooded horses were raised in large numbers for the San Francisco market. Here are great storing-barns and shearing-rooms, stables, pens, sheds, dining-rooms, and houses for the Indian and Mexican shearers, all not far from a little stream which flows down from the Santa Rosa Mountains to the sea, pass- ing a big sandstone cave, once the home of the ancients, now the sleeping apartment of the shearers. Forty or fifty shearers engage in the work. Some of the most skilful will shear one hundred sheep a day, and the scene, which can be seen any Fall at Santa Rosa, Santa Catalina, or San Clemente, is most 286 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA interesting. The men work in a long shed. As a man shears a sheep he throws the wool on a table and calls his tally. Some, and many of the men, sing all the while. At Santa Rosa in the old days there was a fandango at night, and after the shearing a barbecue and a hunt for foxes or wild hogs — at that time plenti- ful, and dangerous to unmounted men. Santa Rosa is a delightful place to visit for an out- ing, and a month could be passed in exploring its varied points of interest. Like the rest of the islands, Nicalque, as it was called, had a large and extensive native population, and its great sand-dunes were formerly strewn with implements of stone and shell, while here and there skeletons were exposed by the blowing wind. Here, up to 1542, was an American Stone Age in all its purity. The natives had taken all the utensils from bone, wood, stone, and clay — stone clubs, stone arrow-heads, and spear-points; beads, hooks, earrings, and a thousand and one articles from the abalone shells, the meat of which afforded them their chief sustenance. Great ollas of stone, mortars, pestles, metates, grinding-stones, wheel-like stones used in games, and scores of objects whose use is only conjecture, hundreds of which have been gath- ered to form collections in the great museums of the world. Here are the same eagles found at the other islands, and vast numbers of ravens, big and defiant, protest- ing at the invasion of the gringoes, or any one else, for that matter. The channel between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz is but five miles wide, hence the birds are the same, or very similar to those of all the Channel Islands, the AROUND SANTA ROSA 287 difference being that the farther out the less the num- ber and species. Climbing the highest peak, Monte Negro, 1565 feet, on a clear warm day, an inspiring view is obtained. To the north, the lofty Santa Ynez Range rises, and the other islands are seen east and west. The shores are high, precipitous bluffs, abounding in great caves and little bays, but there are no really good harbors. The east end is rocky and dangerous, as two-thirds of a mile out a rocky cone rises to within sixteen feet of the surface, and about two miles away there is a shoal with less than thirty feet. About two and a half miles from East Point there are sand-dunes two hun- dred and fifty feet in height, always changing in the strong wind, and once the home of hundreds of natives, who have left tons of abalone shells to tell the story. The extreme northern end of the island is known as Carrington Point; for nearly a mile it faces the sea with a bold and menacing front at least four hundred feet high, a notable sight from a long distance. Nearly the entire island is surrounded with nereocystean kelp, which constitutes a refuge for innumerable fishes. Looked down upon from the mountain, Santa Rosa resembles a big ray fifteen miles across the wings or fins (east and west), and ten from head to tail (north and south). Away to the west end, at Sandy Point, a splash of white tells of sand-dunes, and they are almost mountains, rising four hundred feet high. Off here is a dangerous shoal, Talcott's, with but eleven feet of water over it, a mile and a half offshore. South Point is formed by a great arm of the mountain, which Santa Rosa seems to be. Here the bluff is one hun- dred feet high, and lofty cliffs extend alongshore for 288 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA half a mile, against which the sea breaks in storms, making a fine display. Johnson's Lee is a fair anchor- age in a west wind, near South Point, and there is a sixteen-foot dock in northwest anchorage found in the western end of Becher Bay, near Carrington Point. In heavy weather a vessel would doubtless have to go to sea or dodge the winds about the islands, but in summer only strong west winds are met with, which rise in the morning and die down at night. On Santa Rosa the verdure is similar to that of the neighboring shore, — no large trees, but well-watered canons filled with holly, greasewood, ironwood, and many interesting plants indigenous to the region. After heavy rains the grasses cover the open spots; in a short time the flowers are in bloom, and we have a garden out at sea, parts of which are very beautiful. The animals found here are similar to those on the other islands; the fox is common and a Santa Rosa species. Aside from mice and a few lizards this is the limit of the small animals. There are extensive sea-lion rookeries, and sea birds of many kinds make their home here, finding protection in the isolation of the place. Years ago pigs were placed on the island and are now "wild hogs," according to an authority on the island, dangerous to approach or hunt on foot. The island abounds in fine fishing, especially in Spanish mackerel (oceanic bonito), whitefish, sheeps- head, and yellowtail. Here is the ground of the pro- fessional fishermen from Santa Barbara, Larco being the best known. He takes parties over from the mainland and knows the islands well. The great black sea bass and all the fishes described in this AROUND SANTA ROSA 289 volume are found here. The rocky shores abound in crayfish, limpets, mussels, crabs, and abalones. This island has been of interest to geologists, as some years ago the teeth of a big elephant were found here, showing that the island had not so long in the past been connected with the mainland. The island is rugged, yet on the higher places or the main ridge one may ride for nearly four miles without rising or descending more than one hundred and seventy-five feet. On some of the beaches numerous whale bones are found; and I was told by persons familiar with the island that a few years ago during a terrific storm a school of large California gray whales came in, evi- dently confused, and ran high and dry on the beach, where they were captured by the herders and the oil and bone secured. That the early inhabitants were successful whalers is evident from the whale bones found on various islands, though how they took them with their kelp ropes and flint spears is a matter of conjecture. Santa Rosa is particularly rich in its valuable market food-fishes of the kind known as rock-fish or groupers. They are taken on banks, in deep water. The black- banded rock-fish, tree-fish, corsair, orange rock-fish, beach rock-fish, yellow rock-fish, flesh-colored rock- fish, red rock-fish, grass rock-fish, and green rock-fish, are a few of them, all fine food-fishes. Down the Kuro Shiwo, or the Black Current of Japan, come many rare fishes, some known in Japan as the Japanese swordfish, the Japanese albacore, the ribbon fish, — from deep water, which attains a length of twenty-five feet and a width of a foot. I have seen three or four of these rare creatures, and one over twenty feet long 290 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA went ashore at Long Beach. In the deep rocks devil fishes are found ten or fifteen feet across, and a giant squid was once discovered so large that it could not be towed in by a power launch. Animal life seems to have reached its maximum in number, size, and abun- dance in these isles of eternal summer. In these pellucid waters you will see the big sunfish and the Japanese swordfish (Tetrapturus mitsukurii), leaping, — perhaps to escape the swordsman; the Xiphias, which attains a weight of six hundred to eighteen hundred pounds; the hugh basking shark; the long-tailed thresher (Alopias), and many more. Along the sandy beaches are the little surf perches, found nowhere else, whose young are born alive. Even the sea horse of these waters is a giant. Occasionally we see the game rooster-fish, so common in the Gulf of California, while the Christmas perch and the banded bass are among the really beautiful and not rare so- journers along the deep forests of the islands. Rare, and but once taken with a rod, is the radiant opah — the most beautiful fish, to my mind, in the world, — the king of the herrings, and so unlike anything about a herring that no one would think of it but the story- teller among the Indians, who believes that the her- rings selected this gorgeous creature with its vestments of silver and old rose as king. Surely it is the king of beauty. I have seen but three in twenty years, and with one, or on the same day, a ghostfish, a fish like a ribbon of silver. I was so fortunate as to keep it alive for hours and secure its picture — the only one, I fancy, ever taken. These are but a few of the won- ders of animal life you may find on the beaches and in the beautiful sea caves and along the kelp beds of SPECIMENS ON THE OCEAN FLOOR Crayfish — Sea hare — Deep sea crab V/ ^3 it:.- B£t> r aSUgi Jm. m ijqk^ flE^AAi 'T? it,'- ^^RSS^thI -.1 *** • »*v GIANT STAR FISH, UPPER SURFACES AND LOWER AROUND SANTA ROSA 291 Santa Rosa and all these islands, bathed by many and varied conditions, and in the "Mikado's Highway," the Kuro Shiwo, or Black Current of Japan. In among the rocks are giant starfishes a foot across, hermit crabs, giant spider crabs, and smaller ones that live in the kelp and mimic it so marvellously that you may pass them by. This is the kelp crab which has a red cousin, a half land and half water relative, which occupies every crevice, nook, and corner. The sea hare (Aplysia), that in Florida is as large as one's hand, here weighs ten pounds, ejecting its cloud of purple ink when rudely touched. Sum up all the marine forms you know in the Atlantic and Mediter- ranean and nearly double them, and you will have the marvellous list of animals of the sea found in these blue waters that ebb and flow about the Channel Islands. The shallow channels between San Miguel, Santa Cruz, and Anacapa are favorite haunts of whales. The Pacific sulphur-bottom (SibbaMius stdfureus), the Pacific humpback (Megaptera versabilis), the fin- back {Balcenoptera veliferra), and the California gray (Rhacianestes glaucus) have all been seen here, besides the two killers noted in the Santa Catalina Channel, the dolphin (Delphinus), the cow-fish (Tur stops), and the porpoise. It is believed that two species of sea-lion are found at Santa Rosa besides the harbor seal, the former Zalophus Californianus, and Steller's sea-lion (Eumetopias stelleri). The wealth of animal life around these islands is beyond computation. Three turtles of large size are often seen — the great ribbed leather turtle, the Pacific green, and the loggerhead. The leather turtle is an 292 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA oceanic pelagic form and rare anywhere. I have seen three large ones taken in this or the South Channel. One had its mouth clogged with asphaltum which it had tried to eat. There is a story, and very appro- priate it is, to the effect that old tars can recognize the vicinity of the Santa Barbara Channel by the smell of asphaltum. It is found on the rocks of all the islands, oozing out of the bottom at various places and drifting away. On the mainland coast, opposite Santa Rosa, oil rises and produces a perennial calm; while north of Santa Barbara, on the More estate, there is a vast area of asphaltum which crops out on the beach in such vast quantities that vessels are loaded with it with very little difficulty. This asphaltum was of vast importance to the early natives. With it they stopped the holes in abalone shells and made dishes, and they employed it for all the purposes for which a white man uses glue; and there is a wonderful deposit near Santa Monica, on the Brea ranch, in which many ancient animals have been found. Santa Rosa is well watered; in one of its attractive valleys flows a little river rippling musically down to the distant sea. A writer in The Overland Monthly of May, 1893, says: "Santa Rosa has an area of sixty-four thousand acres, well watered, and intersected by deep valleys where the animals may always find shelter. Like the others of this group it is evidently of volcanic origin. Masses of black conglomerate stone, evidently fused by great heat, show themselves fre- quently, and lava can be found in places. Some trees are in the canons, and a variety of small oaks covers much of the steep hillsides; it is curiously twisted in its growth and seemingly AROUND SANTA ROSA 293 never decays, as the bleached stems cover large places where the sand drifts, and nothing now grows. A kind of ironwood, peculiar to the islands, is found here; it has beautiful fern-like leaves, with a slightly aromatic smell. Another large plant, with leaves like sweet anise, rising in a green parasol from a thick fleshy stem, was also a stranger to the visitors. The wild flowers were not in bloom, but are said to carpet the ground in great profusion. The constant action of the wind has worn the sandstone and clay cliffs and exposed edges everywhere into strange caves, grotesque carvings, and little nooks; in the latter the foxes find a charming home, and in one boulder standing apart in Canon Verdi is a room large enough for half a dozen sheep to stand, and keep their fleeces dry during a sudden shower. "Several picturesque natural bridges are formed by the action of the tide and the surf, which is so much heavier there than on the mainland in that vicinity. In the crannies of the rocky shore are thousands of abalones, of whose dried flesh and shells the Chinese fishers ship many tons to their countrymen. When alive the abalone is a pound or less of very unpalatable looking black life; and dried, it looks and feels like the heel of an old boot. Immense sea urchins and starfishes, anemones, crabs, and spiky little fishes are in the pools. Excellent fish of several kinds are to be had for the catching, and for some rea- son are better than those caught nearer the mainland. Clams, mussels, and sometimes crabs, are to be had, but the large ones were very wary, perhaps because the men had then so much time to hunt them. There were over seventy men em- ployed, — more than usual, for the broken pier was being mended laboriously from the sea end, where the pile driver was left standing when the rest was washed away." A number of interesting fossils have been taken from Santa Rosa, as the teeth and bones of a prehis- toric elephant (Elephas americanus), and the follow- ing shells of the Pliocene: Saxidomus, Callesta, Lucina, Turitella, Mactra, Glysineris, Hinnites, Ostrea, Pec- ten, Liro pecten, Turbinetta. At Santa Catalina but 294 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA one has been found (Pecten estrellamus), which was uncovered when the stage road was cut through the mountain just before it tips down into the Isthmus. There is a large deposit of infusorial earth or chalk at the Isthmus on the south side, perforated by caves; where the earth is cut away it comes out clear and white. One very large cave occurs here; to the right, not far away, is an outcropping of "red paint," from which the Indians made their color, which Mexican Joe pointed out to me years ago. CHAPTER XXVI SAN MIGUEL SAN MIGUEL, the property of the Government, lies to the west of the Santa Barbara group, and is so near Point Concepcion — but twenty- one miles distant — that it is more exposed to the winds than the others, and is a most dangerous place for shipping. Something must have happened to the island since 1542, as, according to his log, Cabrillo spent much of his time in Cuyler's Harbor, on the northern shore, one and one-fourth miles southeast of Harris Point, and here tradition says that he died and was buried. Why Cabrillo should remain here when the land-locked harbor at Santa Catalina af- forded perfect anchorage all the time, and Avalon Bay a good anchorage almost every day, is a mystery which can be explained only on the supposition that the island has changed much since then. San Miguel is being swept and devastated by extraordinary sand rivers and dunes which are flowing down into the harbor, and have played some strange tricks. A schooner which a few years ago lay in shallow water is now high and dry in the embrace of a sand-dune, and these strange whimsicalities of the wind seem to be claiming the island for their own. The island is but three miles from Santa Rosa, across a turbulent channel. It is about seven and one- seventh miles long, east and west, and about two miles 295 296 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA wide, the land rising in two peaks in the centre, eight hundred and sixty and eight hundred and fifty feet high. It has few beaches; its shores are bold and rocky; and the western end, when the wild wind comes tearing in, is the true lair of the sand-dune. There are no trees, and but few bushes of any kind, the chief verdure being grass of a long, coarse variety which thrives here. After the rains wild flowers of various kinds appear, and the assumption is that years ago San Miguel may have been well wooded like the rest of the islands, but is now being blown into the sea. As you approach from Santa Rosa across the chan- nel, the east end is seen to be a cliff about forty feet high, known as Cardwell Point, and from it a bad reef reaches out for half a mile. About two and one-half miles northwest from here is the famous Cuyler's Har- bor where Cabrillo is said to lie. Scores of attempts have been made to find the remains and give him suit- able honor as the discoverer of California, but so far without results, and some have claimed that Santa Catalina was meant. I believe the only city in Cali- fornia that has honored Cabrillo in any way is San Diego. On one of his anniversaries this city held a celebration that was a credit to the State; but the State should come to the front and erect a suitable monument for Cabrillo at the port of Los Angeles. Deadman's Island could be carved into an appropriate base for the heroic statue that should be placed there or somewhere for the man who discovered Southern California and gave it to the world. A large island lies off Cuyler's (Prince). It is about three hundred and three feet high, a good monument S5 2 SI :/ £ » > -N >< * ■N / .' r -,\ ■" 7 ■^ 2« w > (J f^ '-" '■■' && £" fc - >\^- >^ £r "'•'- C ~5 fi ** i *■*< - *.'-'* O £i^ ^ ~c c y cS yv 8. ^ •/ ^W ~" -s r V>! & m J? -N £~~' ■" ■ : Mfi . "\ &2 ^ ) ^ t~? •* v *N ^" ffl £jjf %g \ 7 *> Q Q *. ^ ^y f "S ■*? s / J - \ ^.,-\ ^ '* &' A* ici ■. .A ' k« m ^ pi Cn ... X- 4- i- ^ z %> - C) f 7 *. ■y r ^ ^ H o J ■'•\ r>Al / v - i"' / % ""* 3& 9 ?& ' J 5. *+,,>■/ I ^1 -M - ?* fi> -s ^ tcC - ' $ $ $ <*V ";f^T V >', s s ^ A -'/ fi" 3 ^^ (V v C7 si 3, *■/ $S * >;* MJ * ' ■"* r ■ (■• g" SAN MIGUEL 297 to Cabrillo in itself; until the real monument is built I propose that we substitute "Cabrillo" for "Prince." It is characteristic of the old adventurer and geog- rapher; it faces the sea with a bold and changeless front. Cuyler's Harbor, where Cabrillo is supposed to he, is on the north shore of the island facing the main- land and about a mile by two-thirds of a mile in extent, the best anchorage at present being in the western part, opposite the spring. There is landing for small boats at various places, especially at Crow Point, Tyler Bight; but the island abounds in rocks, small islands, and shoals, and should be approached care- fully in heavy weather. Over it are the same kinds of shell mounds that are found on the other islands, showing that in the early days the place was the home of many Indians who lived well and easily on the vast fish supply of the surrounding waters. To-day the island has but one or two inhabitants, herders, who care for the sheep; and it is a singular fact that while the name Dry Tortugas was consid- ered a terror to prisoners during the war, it was an agreeable place compared to San Miguel or San Nicolas as a permanent residence; yet it is easy to find men who will live there by the year or ten years, as the old Basque of San Nicolas; O'Reilly of Mosquito, who lived alone at San Clemente for years; and old Gallagher of Gallagher's. Nearly all the islands have had scores of characters living on them in years gone by. The San Clemente Channel is a rough place at times, yet Gallagher crossed it with a skiff with a flour-sack sail, and the last time I saw him he came sailing into Avalon Bay with his poor skiff, a goat, four or five 298 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA hens, and a dog. These he boarded out until he made up his mind to return, which he did at night, rowing the skiff the thirty miles. San Miguel is fascinating in its barrenness. It is worth while to visit it to see the sand-dunes alone, and the sand rivers down which one can slide and toboggan as upon snow. One cannot look upon the human remains, the skulls and skeletons, without wondering where the natives went, or what accomplished their extinction, as within a century and a half the inhabitants of all these populous islands have disappeared. According to some, they were killed off by the Russians, Americans, or Alaskans who came down the coast yearly after sea otters, with which this coast abounded in the early part of the nineteenth century. These people, according to tradition, paid no attention to the inhabi- tants, shot them down, and robbed them on a free- booter plan for mere amusement. The proof of this lies in the statement of Captain Nidever of Santa Barbara, who stated that years ago he was followed by two boat-loads of Aleutians from a large vessel. Nidever landed and from a fortified camp put up so good a fight that the northerners, after losing a number of men, made their way to their vessel and sailed. The Mission Fathers also stated, according to Mrs'. C. P. Austin of Santa Barbara, to whom I am indebted for the fact, that the Russians came down the coast every year for seals and otter, and that the natives were plundered by them. To me a more plausible explanation of the disappear- ance of the natives is that the Mission Fathers induced them to give up their island life and settle about the SAN MIGUEL 299 missions, to be within reach of their teachings. There is no evidence that a mission was ever built on any of these islands, though a primitive one was of course possible; but the splendid buildings opposite the islands, with their rich ranches and cattle, as Santa Barbara Mission, San Buena Ventura, San Fernando, San Gabriel, San Luis Obispo, San Luis Rey, and San Diego, all with thousands of head of stock, and good living, and within sight of the islands, — must have been an alluring attraction to many of the island natives; and while many were killed in war, swept away by disease or by the invaders, doubtless the majority ultimately went to the various missions where they soon lost their identity. San Miguel will impress the visitor for its many satellites, little rocky islands about it, often tremendous needle-like peaks rising out of the sea from deep water, the home of the eagle or osprey. Many are colored white by the cormorants; in a fog one can readily imagine them ghostly ships, or the phantoms of the many craft that have doubtless met their fate here. In a general way the Channel Islands, so far as the large ones are concerned, number twelve: three Coro- nados, four Santa Catalinas, and five Santa Barbarans; but to give the islands their full dues would be to include them all, and there are about thirty-five islands, big and little, from wind-swept San Nicolas to Los Coronados. The largest of the small ones is the rock of Santa Barbara, about twenty-one miles north of Santa Catalina. It can be seen over twenty-five miles at sea, being five hundred and forty-seven feet high, resembling a great rounded rock. Approaching, its 300 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA shores are seen to be high and precipitous. A third of a mile from it to the southwest is another small island two hundred and fifty-seven feet high; and one- fourth of a mile from the northwest end to the west is a smaller one rising one hundred and twenty-five feet. This island is almost bare in summer, with no water, but after the winter rains grasses and other verdure appear. It is an interesting place for the bird-lover, as many sea birds, — for example, tufted puffins, — nest here. Baird's cormorant lays here in inaccessible places; and there are extensive rookeries of Brandt's cormorant, just above the water-line at the foot of the cliffs, as I found them at Santa Cruz. The big filthy nests were so near the water that many drowned young were seen. The black petrel doubtless breeds here in the auklet burrows, and the Farallone cormorant, the eggs being found on May 15. All the gulls, the brown pelican, and the murrelets are found on the little island, and the pigeon guillemot, according to Mr. Gaylord, nests in the caves on the north side of the island. One of the most interesting birds here is Cassin's auklet, which I have caught in Avalon Bay. The southwest side of the mesa from top to summit, according to Gaylord, is crowded with their burrows. The birds are not seen during the day, not coming ashore until about eight o'clock at night. There are no trees even by courtesy, but mourning doves, bald eagles, horned larks, ravens, Western meadow larks, house finches, Santa Barbara song sparrows, myrtle warblers, magnolia warblers, Town- send's warblers, hermit warblers, pileolated warblers, rock wrens, and russet-backed thrushes were observed here by Mr. Horace Gaylord on the Pasadena Academy SAN MIGUEL 301 of Science expedition some years ago, and doubtless many migrating birds stop here. Preying on these birds are forty or fifty cats, the progeny of a pair left here by some fishermen years ago. The scenery about this little island is picturesque. There are caves in great numbers, and an arch large enough for a yacht to pass through at the northeast point, where the wild sea moans and complains. Near here is a two-chambered cavern thirty feet high, in which cormorants and guillemots lay. In this cave or chamber fresh water drips from the ceiling, accord- ing to J. R. Britton, who has examined it carefully. This furnishes the only supply on the island. A number of sheep live here and doubtless sustain life by drinking this and sparingly of salt water. A similar instance I frequently observed at San Clemente. There are arches through the rocks, double-barrelled ones high above the sea, and the northwest point seems to have been riddled by the action of the waves. Gulls lay their eggs in the brilliant ice plant masses. Around Santa Catalina there are several small islands, the largest being Ship Rock off the north coast; and at the entrance of Cabrillo Harbor is Bird Island. Other small islands are, the Cone, at San Clemente, Castle Rock, Wilson Rock, Prince Island, Can Rock, Richard- son Rock, San Miguel, Begg's Rock, White Island, Church Island, and others, their only inhabitants being cormorants, ospreys, and sea-lions. There are many interesting fossils found at San Miguel; as MytUus dementia, Turitella,\Conchocla, Callesia, Sandclla, Turbinetta, all found by Voy and determined by Cooper. 302 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA In extending a yachting trip from Santa Rosa to San Miguel one will do well to observe the precaution of taking a local man, like Larco of Santa Barbara, or some fisherman who knows the island and its winds and currents. CHAPTER XXVII THE GLASS-BOTTOMED BOAT THE old tar who described his ship, the None Such, to a landsman as having three decks and no bottom, would doubtless be sur- prised to see how near modern invention has copied his description, as the glass-bottomed boat in its evolu- tion has two or three decks and almost no bottom, in place of which are great panes of glass or windows down through which the bold navigator looks and sees the wonders of the deep. Many years ago I used a glass-bottomed box on the Florida Reef for collecting rare corals, and when some- thing was seen in fifteen or twenty feet of water we dived down and brought it up. In this way I had delightful experiences and came in a few years to know the great reef about Garden Key like a book, all from these submarine excursions, soon being able to remain under water a minute, a short time com- pared to the Japanese or Hawaiian divers. When I first visited the Channel Islands of Southern California, some twenty-two years ago, I was impressed with the beauty of the kelp beds and the marine fauna. I had a large glass-bottomed box made, and also planned a glass-bottomed boat and described it to a boatman. From this, and doubtless the suggestions of others as well, has grown an extraordinary vocation, that of the glass-bottomed boat. The capital invested 303 304 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA in all probability is nearly one hundred thousand dol- lars; and the income is a good and increasing one, due to the fact that the attractive island of Santa Catalina is the Mecca for thousands of tourists annually, most of whom go out in the glass-bottomed boats. When you land in the beautiful Bay of Avalon, about thirty miles from Los Angeles, you are met, not by hackmen, but by men with glass-bottomed boats. "Here you are! Marine Jimrnie's boat." "Take the Cleopatra!" or "Right away now for the Empress and the Marine Gardens!" The ocean steamer is met in the bay by these strange craft, which look like the old-fashioned river side-wheelers. Some of these boats are made on the island, and range from row- boats with glass bottoms to large side-wheel steamers valued at thirty thousand dollars. There is a fleet of I them, big and little, and they skim over the kelp beds, and have introduced an altogether new variety of j entertainment and zoological study combined. The boat is made by having the bottom to the extent of the boards beside the keel to the width of three feet from bow to stern replaced by thick plate- glass, set inside of a railing so that the glass cannot touch the bottom; even if it did, the observer looks down through a well, his elbows comfortably resting on the padded edge. As the boat moves slowly along, every object on the bottom can be distinctly seen, as ; the glass magnifies it. The submarine scenery is particularly attractive here. The entire island, nearly sixty miles around, is lined with a forest of Nereocystis, or kelp, a huge vine, whose leaves rise and fold and unfold in the water, the abiding-place of countless animals of all THE GLASS-BOTTOMED BOAT 305 kinds. This fringe rises in deep water ten or twenty feet from the rocks, and inshore are myriad forms of algae of various colors, to which the skippers have given fanciful names, as the Yosemite, the Grand Canon of the Sea, the Great Divide, etc., all of which adds to the piquancy of the amusement. The divers often follow the boats around and, for a bit, will dive for haliotis shells. As the boat moves over the shallow water of Avalon Bay, exclamations come quick and often, as one scene melts away and another appears, and the entire range of color is exhausted before the trip is over. The fauna of this region is particularly interesting, as many of the animals seen are peculiar to it. The illustrations in this book are from photographs taken under my supervision, and show the various animals that are seen through the glass-bottomed boat, alive and under water. Care was taken to show the natural environment as nearly as possible, and they are the first photographs of the living Pacific Coast fishes ever made, each one being the result of repeated trials, made in a specially designed tank to show exact fac- similes of the glass-bottomed boat scenes. I once sent a diver down into Avalon Bay and followed him around in a glass-bottomed boat. It was a remarkable spec- tacle to see this man walking on the bottom of the sea, pushing his way through the kelp forest. After a while he sat down, crushed a sea-urchin in his hand, whereupon the small fishes gathered about and fed from his palm. Then he opened a wire trap, which I had provided, placed the bait inside and held it for a moment, or until a number of fishes (gold perch) entered. He then closed the trap, and seeing that the 306 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA game was snared, I pulled it up. Altogether this little act beneath the sea was very interesting. Here the kelp itself forms a beautiful picture, its rich olive hue when it catches the sun looking not unlike a great band of amber against the vivid turquoise of the water, as deep water is so near the shore that often one can dive into blue water from the rocks. A common form in the weed is the giant California starfish, its white tubercles against the pink or red surface making it a striking figure against the green, red, or purple weeds. Near it will be seen the large California sea-cucumber lying on the rocks, prone and motionless, and near by the long-spined sea-urchin, very similar to the one of the Florida Reef, though not so long. With it is a small, pure white sea-urchin from deeper water, a charming contrast to the green weed that is in constant motion, undulating in the waves that affect even this quiet bay. We now drift over a rocky area where the water appears to be a pale blue. A reddish-yellow crawfish waves its serrated spines back and forth from a crev- ice, and passing before him is a hideous octopus, search- ing for crabs or anything that it can lay its tentacles on. This, without question, is the most fascinating animal to be seen through the glass window. Timid, constantly changing color, hideous to a degree, having a peculiarly devilish expression, it is well named the Mephistopheles. of- the -seay~and with the bill of a parrot, the power to adapt its color to almost any rock, and to throw out a cloud of smoke or ink, it well deserves the terror it arouses. The average specimen is about two feet across, but I have seen individuals fourteen feet in radial spread, and larger ones have STRANGE ANIMALS OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS Salpa {luminous) — Young perch — Black Ptcropod {luminous) — Giant sen jelly-fish — Santa anemone — Paper Catalina turtle nautilus CURIOUS MARINE CREATURES OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS Giant jelly-fish — Rare glass sponge — Paper nautilus THE GLAS&-BOTTOMED BOAT 307 been taken in deep water offshore. The strength of the octopus is extraordinary. Several kept in con- finement by me have almost succeeded in holding my hands despite all my strength. The Paper Nautilus (Argonaut) is common here, and I have kept several alive for some time, and their "shell "-making has been observed. A relative of the octopus, the squid, is often seen here ten feet long. One kept alive by me for a while weighed two hundred pounds and was eleven feet long, presenting a marvellous flashing of colors over its body that could be compared only to chain light- ning. In the crevices of the rocks you may catch brilliant flashes of vivid red. This is the Garibaldi, a fish resembling to some extent the angel-fish of Florida, but peculiar to this coast. It is very sociable, and comes out, eying the boat and doubtless familiar with the strange double row of faces that are looking down at it. The adult Garibaldis are one color, a brilliant golden red; but the young, which can be seen in the crevices, are dotted with brilliant blue, and the skipper calls them "electric fishes," and tells you the spots give out light. Suddenly the boat passes over a white and pink jelly-fish. It is two feet across the disk, from which drifts away a wonderful fluted mass of shrimp pink tentacles ten or fifteen feet long. Some of these jellies have been seen with tentacles from twenty to forty feet in length, a veritable comet, and at night a phos- phorescent meteor. Near by is another jelly something like this, but almost black — a deep maroon in color. The skipper 308 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA holds the boat over it, and every motion of the curious creature is seen as it opens and shuts and pumps its way through the clear water. Countless small jellies fill the water at times, most graceful shapes, some that have never been described; others rare elsewhere are common here. Such is the Pyro- soma, one of the luminous compound ascidians. It is a barrel-shaped animal with one end open. Speci- mens six feet long have been seen. Dr. Moseley, the English naturalist, describes one which he placed on deck, writing his name on it and seeing the letters come out in lines of fire. The Bay of Avalon is some- times filled with them, and now we see them pumping their way along beneath the window-like crystal vases, with other luminous forms, as the giant Salpa; the latter now singly, now in chains, among the most beautiful of the phosphorescent animals. A striking fish is the sheepshead, with black and crimson bands in the male, and gray in the female. The young are attractive little fishes splashed with blue. At times, after great storms, the voyager, peering down through the glass window, sees strange and weird animals new to science or so rare as not to be seen alive by one in fifty thousand. Such is the deal fish, seen lying on a weed, about three feet long, a band of purest silver; when it moves or swims it appears to undulate like a ribbon. Specimens of an allied form twenty feet long or more have been found near here. The fish lives in the deep sea, doubtless, and only at rare intervals comes to the surface to be seen or caught in the nets of the fishermen. As we drift along, the rocks are now seen to be THE GLASS-BOTTOMED BOAT 309 covered with seeming flowers. They are sea-anem- ones, here of the largest size, virtual giants, and when open, with all their tentacles expanded, the flowers of the sea certainly, in shape and color. In these big anemones, which are cousins of the corals, a little fish lives, darting into the mouth and living in the stomach or intestine of the animal. A long, slender fish also lives in one of the sea-cucumbers which we have always in sight, the trepang of the Chinese; in Malay it is an article of export. Here, also, are small starfishes, some like snakes, uncovered by the waves as they come slowly in. Near them, its head project- ing from the crevice, is the moray, a big eel-like fish four feet long, with fangs that call to mind the rattle- snake, — a ferocious fellow that strikes like a snake and is to be avoided. Some of the fishes here, as the Indian-head fish, appear to have outdone themselves in the richness of their coloring, blazing in blue and red, while the dorsal fins are really plumes dashed with blue or black. The eye of this fish is large and a vivid blue. Over them are two antennae which move about in a comical way. Crawling in the weed are big crabs, gigantic pseudo- spiders; and by examining the kelp and other weeds carefully, curious crabs are found which mimic their surroundings so exactly that some experience is re- quired to see them. Many of the fishes seen through the window are mimics of remarkable cleverness. When the slow movement of the water overturns the kelp and brings it back again, we may see a green fish about a foot long, with a long frilled, dorsal fin. This is the kelp fish. For protection it mimics the leaf; and, not only 310 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA this, you note that it hangs in the water just like a leaf, head up or down, so that a novice would never see it unless his attention were called to it by the attentive skipper. Drifting along, the passenger in the glass-bottomed boat often sees the large pelagic fishes, as the yellow- tail, white sea bass, or the giant black sea bass, which weighs four hundred pounds and lives in the kelp beds of the Channel Islands. Sharks are also some- times seen, and on the bottom, coiled up in some snug harbor between the rocks, may be seen a very inter- esting shark called the Catalina Port Jackson shark. It is about two feet long, with a spine before each dorsal fin. It is sluggish and feeds on crabs at night, and lays a peculiar corkscrew-like egg. For years this shark was supposed to be extinct and known only by its fossil spines; but some one went to Port Jackson, Australia, and found them alive; then a species was discovered on the California coast. It is one of the common catches in traps at the islands, and its curious eggs are sold as curiosities and are hatched in the aquarium. On the bottom we see rock-like objects which prove to be sculpins, so mimicking the rocks and stones that at times it is impossible to distinguish them, as they are covered with curious barbels, which look like weeds, and are black, red, yellow, and white, perfect imitations of the rocks on which they lie, ready to take any kind of a lure. If a panorama had been arranged it would not appear more artificial, as at every move of the glass-bottomed boat something new is seen through the window, as if prearranged. The scenery changes every moment, and there is a slight THE GLASS-BOTTOMED BOAT 311 ground swell, just sufficient to lift the curtains of the weed and move them to one side, then back again. Strange things constantly appear. Now the vista is green. Presto! the tidal scene-shifter makes it purple of a gorgeous hue; then comes a cavern of the sea, "In gulfs enchanted where the Siren sings," — faced with a most delicate green, in which swim blue and gold fishes. Drifting out a little, into water thirty feet deep, we see that Santa Catalina is a big offshore Sierra, as we can now look down the precipitous slopes into water of an indigo blue shade, the most exquisite blue imaginable, with a background here and there of dim shadowy shapes. Only those who have been divers or who have gone on a cruise on a Santa Catalina glass-bottomed boat can appreciate their real beauty. Lying on one side is a mass of peculiar mazarine blue. In a moment we make it out as a school of blue-eyed perch of California, a fish about a foot long, with eyes like turquoises. In the peculiar light that sifts down through the kelp they appear blue, and are all headed in the same direction and lying near the bottom. In mid-water are countless kelp fishes, graceful swimmers, while below them there are others still more radiant in yellow, white, brown, and red. They lie upon the rocks as shown in the photographs. Some- times a shark sails slowly along with its remoras, or sucking fishes, following or fastened to it. They will often wander away and look curiously up into the big window down into which peer scores of faces in a row. The big glass-bottomed boats, which hold one hun- dred passengers, travel up and down the coast. They visit the sea-lion rookeries and allow the voyagers to 312 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA photograph the animals. It may be chronicled that a new and valuable ally to science and education has been established in California in the boat with a glass bottom, through which naturalist or layman can observe animals in their habitat and note their habits uncon- strained. The real charm of this voyage beneath the sea lies in the wealth of submarine verdure, sea weeds; for here are the true forests of the sea, glades, and replicas of all the forest scenes of the land, awaiting the hand of some Breuer or Keith. Here one is truly in the gardens of the sea, and on every hand are sea plants in many colors, shapes, and sizes. Here may be seen feather boa kelp (Egregia laevigata), giant kelp balls (Nereocystis lutkeana), iodine kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera), lace moss (Dasya subse- cunda), fur moss (Ectocarpus), sea oak (Cystoseira), Irish moss (Chondrus crispus), coral moss (Amphiroa), chenille moss (Codium tomentosum), sea lettuce (Ulva lactuca), puff ball (Colpomenia sinuosa), sea grass (Enteromorpha), brown fan (Zonaria toumefortii), gulf weed (Sargassum), sea oak (Halidrys osmundacea), thorny kelp (Gigartina), cactus moss (Haiimeda tuna), jelly weed (Laurensia), sea endive (Haliseris), (Nitophyllum), yellow rockweed (Pelvetia fastigzata), scarlet lace (Plocamium coccineum), brown leaf (Phyl- listis), green rockweed (Fucus harveyanus, Gelidium, and Polysiphonia), eel grass (Phyllospadea), coral moss (Corallina), three species, worm grass {Scytosi- phon lomentarius, Ricardia, Gelidium, Polysiphonia baileyi, Dictyota dichotoma), and about twenty more, identified by Miss Frances Lauderbach of Avalon, and Miss Florence Williams. CHAPTER XXVIII JUANA BETTER THAN NOTHING — THE LOST WOMAN OF SAN NICOLAS MY first visit to Santa Catalina was made, I think, in the hope of discovering a temple to the god Chinigchinich of the ancient Pimugnans, described by Torquemada, the padre of the Vizcaino expedition in 1602, but I hunted the deep canons and the Vale of Avalon in vain. My first visit to San Nicolas was inspired by reading old Captain Nidever's account of the "lost woman" who, having been deserted, lived there alone for twenty years. She died back in the fifties; but Nidever's account of her hut and her life illumined the wind-swept island with a gleam of romance and pathos, to me at least, and I made three trips in all to it. But the winds, the human devastators — the curio-hunters, the otter- exterminators, and others, — and mostly the flying sand, had doubtless long ago wiped out the evidences of her occupation. In the museum of the Vatican is exhibited, or was, a few years ago, a singular suit of pelican and gull skins about which a tale, true and affecting, has been woven. It was sent to Rome by one of the Mission Fathers on the Pacific Coast as being related to the attempts to Christianize the natives of that coast. According to Nidever, one of the old and respected sea captains of Santa Barbara, the Mexican Government 318 314 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA decided to remove the inhabitants of San Nicolas Island to the mainland, doubtless to better their con- dition, as they were being decimated by warlike tribes from the northwest, and to give them the consolation of religion. The vessel sent out for them was a small schooner named the Better Than Nothing, under the command of Captain Sparks, an otter-hunter, who knew the Chan- nel Islands well. The Better Than Nothing crew, and doubtless Mexican soldiers from the mission, rounded up the San Nicolanos, and the vessel was about to sail, when a woman began to cry that she had left her child, a baby, ashore in the hurry. There were several versions of this. Some say that the skipper of the Better Than Nothing deliberately sailed off; others that it was blowing so hard that he was obliged to put out to sea. I can well understand this, as a worse place to land a boat, or to lie, does not exist than the spit at San Nicolas. The poor woman protested that she must return, but her language possibly was not understood, and as the anchor was being lifted, and she realized that her infant was to be deserted, she drew back and they left without her. One story has it that she went aboard the vessel and later leaped overboard. Be this as it may, she was left — though she ran back, secured the child, and hurried down to the beach, crying, "Mane- quauna"; but they did not understand her, and sailed. There is no doubt that Captain Sparks intended to return; but after the seven or eight San Nicolanos had been landed at Santa Barbara, the schooner sailed for San Francisco and was lost. Time went by, months merged into years, and the lost woman of San Nicolas THE LOST WOMAN OF SAN NICOLAS 315 became lost in reality. The story became a legend. The woman at first must have been nearly crazed at being deserted. After this came a revulsion of feeling, and she must have avoided the otter-hunters who went there, an easy matter to do on an island so large as San Nicolas. Some one must have seen the woman, or her house, as some time in 1850, or thereabouts, Padre Gonzales of the Mission of Santa Barbara requested Captain Nidever to go to the island and search for the woman. Captain Nidever made three trips and searched the island from end to end, but failed to find the woman. On the third trip, still urged by the good padre, he took several Santa Barbarefios, a number of Indians, and Mr. Charles Brown, or Carl Ditman, as he was also known. Some years ago Mr. D. W. Thompson, of Santa Barbara, wishing to obtain the exact facts in the case, visited Brown, then a very old man, with a stenographer and took down his statement. Captain Nidever was positive that the woman was eluding them; so on the third trip he started at the southeast end, at the spit, and arranged his men in a line, several hundred feet apart, but all in speaking distance, and at the word of command they marched slowly forward scrutinizing every foot of the island, with the result that they suddenly came upon the hut of the woman. The statement of Brown is as follows: "I went round the head of the island and found traces of the woman; went back and told the old gentleman that the woman was alive. He said it must be some of our Indians. I said, 'Our Indians have got bigger tracks that that.' He said, 'Well, if you think she is alive, let us hunt for her, and take all the men ashore.' We went up to the head of the island. There 316 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNL4 was a kind of hill in the middle. I put my Indians a couple of hundred yards apart. I did not know what kind of woman she was, thought she might bite or scratch. We went from one side of the island to the other, and could not see the hill, and she was sitting on the side of the hill watching us. When we got across to the Indians, I said, 'There's nothing here, let's go back.' There was a basket and some feathers. She catched shags and had a coat made without sleeves, nicely covered with sealskin. I said to the Indians, 'You go to the hill and scatter the feathers and things in the basket, and if she is alive she will find them.' The same day we found them all gathered up and put in the basket." On the following morning Brown persistently con- tinued the hunt. Toiling up the hill, when he was about half-way up he caught sight of her. She was carrying something heavy, and rested at intervals as she ascended. Presently he came in sight of "three huts made out of whale bone." Perceiving that here was the woman of whom he was in search, he raised his gun with his hat on it as a signal to the Indians to join him hastily, as he did not know but she might "bite or scratch." He thus continues his narration: "She had a brush fence, about two feet high, to break the wind, and right in front of me she sat facing me. The sun was coming in her face. She was skinning a seal before I came up to her. The dog, when he noticed me, began to growl. Thinking she might run I stepped round her, and she bowed as if she knew me before, and when the Indians came up they all kneeled." The poor creature, when she saw beings of her own color and race, "held out some of her food" to them. She exhibited no fear, and at a sign went without SAX NICOLAS ISLAND Home of the Lost Woman AXACAPA ISLAND, THE EVER-CHANGING THE LOST WOMAN OF SAN NICOLAS 317 demur with her captors, if such they can be called, though she afterwards gave them to understand that she would not have joined them if they had not found her. Brown and his followers carried away with them all her primitive belongings. "I took everything she had," he says, "and she took a big sea-head in her basket, and that was all." The Nidever-Brown party remained at the island a month, and while they could not understand the woman (nor could the Indians), they obtained a fair idea of her life alone for twenty years or more on wind- swept San Nicolas. She had abundant food to eat in the abalones, fish, and all the shell fish eaten by natives. She built herself a house or home by standing whales' ribs in the sand, covering the top with brush. She was skilful in weaving from grass fibre, and made baskets from it. Of course she had a selection from thousands of mortars and pestles made by her people for thousands of years, which were strewn over the sands — and in diminished numbers are occasionally to be seen to-day. There were dogs on the island, and she had their companionship. She killed seals at night by stealing up to them and striking them with stones. From them she made sinew fish-lines, and from abalone shells she manufactured hooks after the fashion of her people; first forming a round piece of shell, boring a hole in it and breaking a piece out, leaving a hook. Certain roots found on the island constituted a food. She was skilful in catching birds; and doubtess in the long time she became hardened to the life and suspicious of the otter-hunters; hence she hid from them when they landed. As soon as she was captured, she adapted herself 318 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA to their way of living and played about like a child. Brown says she was very tender-hearted and built a screen for a young otter so that the sun would not injure its eyes. She was alarmed at the rough weather on the way across the channel and tried to tell the sailors to appeal to the wind gods to reduce the sea, or something of the kind. Captain Brown said she recognized all the islands and had names for them. When they landed at Santa Barbara she displayed much fear at men on horseback, and when she saw cattle she fell upon her knees. They assumed that she had been born on San Nicolas, and had never been away from the island, or even heard of the Spaniards. All her relatives had been taken to San Pedro, where all had pined away and died years before; hence she could not speak to any one, and while the padres of the mission summoned Indians from all the adjacent missions none could be found who could understand anything she said, and the only native word uttered by her that is remembered was " mdnequauna" ; what it meant no one could tell. An old woman who had been raised on one of the islands was at last found who could guess at th meaning of some of the strange words used by the woman; but nearly all her requests were made by signs. She was taken to the Mission of Santa Barbara and christened Juana Maria; to this the crew of the schooner added "Better Than Nothing," and by that name she was known. Captain Nidever cared for her, and she appeared perfectly happy. She had a childlike nature, and spent much of her time going around in the evenings with Mexicans from house to house, dancing. So fond of this pastime was she that she danced, accord- THE LOST WOMAN OF SAN NICOLAS 319 ing to Nidever, when any one went to see her. So much of a curiosity was the "Lost Woman" that Captain Nidever was offered a large sum to let her become part of a show. But the old Captain refused; he purposed that she should be happy the remainder of her life, and to his credit, be it said, she was. He fed and clothed her. They estimated that she was about forty-five years of age when they found her. The new food she was obliged to eat at Santa Barbara did not agree with her, and in about six weeks she was taken sick, and died. Captain Nidever gave the padres her dresses of bird skins, her awls, wooden knife, lines, and grass bottles; the bird skin dresses were sent to the Pope with an account of her life. The life of Alexander Selkirk was not so pathetic as that of this woman. Robinson Crusoe's island was rich in the bounties of nature, had trees and verdure; but twenty years on wind-swept San Nicolas takes one into the depths of tragedy. On the east end of San Nicolas I found on my first visit a number of whale ribs thrust into the sand, which may have been left there by any of the col- lectors who visited the island since the time of Juana Maria. As I roamed along the shore, which was carved into extraordinary shapes by the wind, I could not divest my mind of the pathetic picture of this lone woman on San Nicolas; and as the wind howled and hissed through the rigging at night I could understand how the lone Basque herder believed that it was the protesting voices of the dead, of men murdered by warring men from the north, of women deserted and forlorn. 320 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA I believe that the power in man or woman to see the beautiful in all nature is one to be cultivated, as of profound importance; as, if one has this perceptive faculty keenly developed, it means happiness under all conditions, the ability to adapt oneself to the vary- ing aspects of life. I have seen men who abhorred the very sight of the California Desert, whose beauties of color, tone, and tint deeply impress some men. One has but to read Van Dyke's "The Desert," to see a poet and artist's appreciation of the dreariest aspects of the world. I fear that I have given an erroneous impression of San Nicolas, have not done it justice; for there are many attractions and natural beauties in this doomed and dying island, rent by the Furies, flagellated by the pebble-burdened wind. As I lay on deck one night, part of the anchor watch of my friend's yacht, where, owing to the menacing conditions, we all stood by — crew and guests — I could almost imagine I was listen- ing to some vividly performed Wagnerian music. Over the highest mountains hovered a black genie, wings aspread, just as you have seen a hawk, conjuring the wind gods. The rivers of the sea were rushing by us, streaked with lambent flames. Every rope, hal- yard, and shroud hummed and moaned the melodies of despair, laughter, remorse, and death. The great seas that lashed the island on both sides met at our anchorage and fought their duels. The long, spectral, shroud-like spit reached out into the purple sea, like an insinuating hand of death; yet this was the home of Juana Maria Better Than Nothing for twenty years, and during all that time she fled from and avoided the sight of man. The very terrors, the tumultuous THE LOST WOMAN OF SAN NICOLAS 321 furies of wave and wind and rock and hail, of inky fogs which beat about this island, the incontinent swirling spirits of the clouds — all are beautiful in the sense of Turner's Slave Ship and of the storm described by Ruskin. It was low tide, and almost everywhere a black lava platform seemed to reach out into the wild sea, which came piling in with its wild white-maned horses riding on the crest, to be blown away or whisked off into the air. It seemed to me that I had never seen such high waves so near the dry land so beaten back. Brewster of San Buenaventura has made a photograph of this very spot. Almost everywhere I found evidences of the people of the Lost Woman or perhaps of herself. I do not think I walked one hundred feet along that cave-infested and wind-gnawed shore without finding some object made by man. Here a toy of some kind, carved in stone; now again a few beads. Here some child had left a "pocket" of limpets, piled one within another, and mortars, pestles, stones, arrow-heads, flint chips, and out upon the sands of the west end tons of great red abalones — the assemblage of centuries — over two or three miles of sand-dunes in which were limpets, crabs, crayfish, shells, bones of animals, and shells of snails. In some of the wrecked canons the wind and sand had worked marvels, cutting out exquisite traceries, lattices, serrations, open work; while on the sides were wonderful heads of strange beasts carved by the wind. Rising out of one of these weird canons where, nature had played havoc, I came upon a plain as level for several miles as a floor. In places it was covered with small red stones, over which the Lost Woman must 322 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA have walked many times, facing the hard west wind. Then I turned into a deep sandy canon, in which myr- iads of slate-colored miniature mountains rose, with here and there patches of sand grasses in gold, yellow, and red — vivid pictures against the white sand that scurried along before every vagrant breeze. Here I imagined the Lost Woman might have found some of her material for making baskets. As I lay in the lee in the sun, it was not an unlovely prospect, if one can see beauty in the purest sand, in gold and green and red grasses, and in skies of eternal blue, across which are racing the genii of the fog in streamers and banners. I found a deep canon filled with siliceous stumps, which looked like trees where the wind had blown the sand away and left the ghost of a forest with phantom stone trees. I found a battle-ground, for so it appeared, of scores of skeletons, where perhaps the San Nicolanos had gone down before the Russians or Inunits. There was a doleful lack of verdure here. The ice plant, a few cacti, low wind-beaten buckthorn, and grasses that jangled in the wind and wrote their story on the sands. I floundered over sand-dunes, dropped down into deep canons, discovered a curious natural stairway, which might have been carved by an artist, but nowhere was there any evidence of the Lost Woman's life or home, if I except the whale ribs near the point. All my visits to San Nicolas were made in August and September. In February or March, after torren- tial rains, the island in parts shows not a little verdure, enough to support a large flock of sheep. Mrs. Blanche Trask, who has seen all these islands through a poet's eye, has collected about one hundred species of plants THE LOST WOMAN OF SAN NICOLAS 323 here, many of which were new. She found on San Nicolas, at its best in March, but one shrub over seven feet high, and leptosynes five or six feet. On the edge of some of the cliffs my feet sank into the red and glistening ice plant which threatened to send one flying down the slopes. From the summit of one I watched myriads of shags coming in from the sea, forming and reforming in a vast convention until the flock made a single black shadow of huge size on the clear water. I saw few birds beyond ravens, ospreys, eagles, shags, cormorants, snipes, and the brown pelican, all of which were extremely tame, showing the ease with which the Lost Woman obtained the skins she used as protection against the wild wind of San Nicolas. No one can visit this interesting island, which was an empire in its way before the arrival of Cabrillo, without being impressed with the fact that here lived a real Robinson Crusoe whose life history is a part of the pathetic history of the world. CHAPTER XXIX ON THE TRAIL OF THE WHITE SEA BASS DOWN in the Gulf of California, not far from the mouth of the Colorado River, the tide sets into the bays in a small bore, filling them very rapidly and running out a long distance. When the tide waves come in they are followed by a splendid game fish which the not over-observant angler might easily take for a salmon. It weighs from eight to one hundred and twenty-five or more pounds, and resembles a large salmon, — so much so that once when I stood above a great salmon pool on the St. Lawrence I could not divest myself of the idea that the splendid fishes darting about were the white sea bass of the Sea of Cortez, as the Gulf of California was originally named. The weight of these fishes is here given at one hun- dred and twenty-five pounds, but an old fisherman and gaffer who accompanied the writer for many years stated that he had seen them so large that they aver- aged two hundred pounds, and Mr. C. G. Conn took monsters weighing one hundred and fifty pounds, with rod and reel. The fish abound in these waters in vast numbers. An acquaintance of mine, interested in mines in the vicinity of San Gorgas, took down some tackle, and, standing on the beach, cast into the tide waves as they came in, and had what he termed the sport of his life. He was an old salmon fisherman, and 324 THE WHITE SEA BASS 325 he found that the fish were, at least in his opinion, far ahead of the salmon in point of gameness and strength; and none of those which he landed weighed less than eighty pounds. They took the mullet bait at once, and as soon as hooked dashed seaward in splendid play, taking yards of line from the protesting reel. The angler was obliged to run the fish down the beach, often at full speed, to save his tackle; then the splendid game would turn and come bounding up the little bay, now glistening in the sunlight, now half exposed, fight- ing hard, striving for liberty. For half an hour the struggle would continue, then the fish would come in slowly, protesting at every turn of the reel, to tip the scales at eighty pounds. • The bass is nearly five feet long, dark brown with iridescent tints above and silvery below; shaped very much like a salmon, so resembling it that the adven- turers who have gone down to this part of the country have reported salmon-fishing, mistaking the white sea bass for it. This fish has been named for Marshal Macdonald, U. S. Fish Commissioner, and is known as Macdonald's white sea bass. In April, 1909, I fished for them and took small ones with a spoon off Ciari Island at Tobari Bay off the Yaqui Valley, Sonora, with Major F. R. Burnham. Almost the same fish are found on the entire coast of South California, coming into the bays, at San Luis and Monterey, and are caught in numbers at all the islands from Santa Barbara south. At Santa Cata- lina, owing to the fact that here is a town, with daily boats, hotels, and all the conveniences for fishing, the sport may be enjoyed the most; but the fish is so peculiar in its coming and going that the angler who 326 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA reads these pages should prepare himself for possible disappointment if he makes the trip to these islands in search of white sea bass alone. It is true there are other game fishes to solace him, and it would be a better plan to approach the grounds in a general fishing trip and accept the white sea bass as a special dispensation. In a word, it is uncertain; yet some fortunate anglers enjoy the sport of sports every year. I have never known the fish to fail entirely. When they are not at Santa Catalina they may be at the Santa Barbara Channel, at Santa Cruz, Anacapa. I have found them in Monterey Bay. They arrive in schools, and rarely remain in one locality more than two or three days; so it is often a matter of luck to find them, and sometimes when found they will not bite — a most exasperating situation. One day is recalled at Santa Catalina when I was fishing for black sea bass — the leviathan of these waters. It happened that I was looking down into the blue water, and saw it fairly alive with white sea bass. They were all, apparently, over four feet in length, and none under forty or fifty pounds. The school was moving slowly north up the island following the undulations of the kelp.' There must have been thousands of these fishes swimming very slowly in a dignified manner, dividing at the launch. I had a light rod baited with a four- inch smelt, and dropped the attractive lure in their midst, making it simulate life in the most approved fashion. Being very near, every movement of the fish could be seen, and not a fish moved toward the bait: they utterly ignored it. This was repeatedly tried without avail; then the bait was replaced by a sardine, then with three. But it was useless; the bass r\ If, RECORD ROD AXD REEL SWORDFISH CATCH — 350 POUNDS By Mr. C. G. Conn, Elkliarl, hid. THE WHITE SEA BASS 327 spurned the bait, and as they moved along in columns of scores, the disappointment was keen and irritating. Suddenly it occurred to me, in one of those inspira- tions that sometimes come, to try flying-fish — seem- ingly impossible lure, one would think, a fish weighing one and a half pounds, and eighteen inches in length (Cypselurus calif ornicus). Such a bait was all ready, the leader was quickly fastened to the line, and with a side swing the flying-fish was sent thirty feet away into the very midst of a platoon of giants, which were moving slowly along with their dorsal fins out of water. As the bait fell with a splash the unexpected happened; several bass started quickly, and out of the band, from some distance behind, rushed one which seized it and held on like a bulldog, very naturally supposing that good fortune had sent a living flying- fish his way. He stopped for a second or two, appar- ently expecting the fish to struggle, then turned it, all on the surface in plain view, pointed it, head down, as would a snake a frog, and with four or five con- vulsive choking gulps, with expanded mouth and gills, swallowed it. I then took part in the play, shortening the delicate line, and with a heavy sway gave the fish the butt. Fishermen whose ears are attuned only to the small trout reel, or the vibrant tongue of the black bass reel, have little conception of the sound that rose on the air as the big tuna reel spoke. I well recall being able to pick out my indi- vidual hounds as far as I could hear them when fol- lowing coyote or lynx in California: Music's cry was low and mellow, Chiquita's long and penetrating, and so on. And so with these reels: they seem to have an individuality, and when the zeee-zeeee rose on the air, 328 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA one's pulse went with it, one's spirits bounded, and all one's senses ran riot in the delight of conquest. The bass had taken one hundred feet, to the bar- carole of the reel; it was one single blare of sound, the thumb pressing on the brake vainly trying to stop it. Fifty, one hundred, two hundred, the music still rising and falling, according to the heavy play upon the pad. Then it suddenly stopped and the bass was away, off somewhere, and down no one could tell how far, playing and hammering on the line with sturdy blows telling of a sulking, fighting mood. Then the big reel started it, and the line as it rushed around cut the water like a knife, making music of another kind. The reel ate up the line, inch by inch, foot by foot, the brave fish bearing away, keeping the line as taut as a guitar string; the rod bent to the danger-point. Suddenly it came dashing toward the boat, while the reel was whirled about, only to stop as the fish rushed away again, making everything sing, hum, and groan as the crash came. Twenty feet were lost in this rush, as nothing can stop fifty pounds of animation when well started; at least the delicate eighteen-strand line could not. Up and down the fish went; now in a splendid circle, now coming in to make lateral rushes, trying all the tricks it was capable of. The fight con- tinued until the angler's arms were weary. Twenty minutes slipped away, then ten more, and the bass was still fifty feet distant, hammering at the line, which was as stiff as a harp string. But the end was near; the constant rushing and the work of the reel wearied the game, which soon came slowly in, circling the boat, now on the surface, its dorsal fin cutting the water, always bearing off and THE WHITE SEA BASS presenting a splendid spectacle of power and game qualities, and that disposition never to give in, which appeals so strongly to the angler. The gaffer began to finger his weapon, and, as the big fish swung into position, reeled to the limit of the long wire leader, it stole down and was jerked into the white throat, and the bass lifted, still fighting, still game, and held for a moment before being taken aboard. Hold it up, gaffer, that we may gloat over its beau- ties, guess its weight, and commiserate it! And, giving it its quietus, the boatman displays the very king of the tribe, a fish four or more feet in length, long, slender, salmon-like, blazing with iridescence; the colors, especially about the head, being like those of a humming-bird, while a tint of old gold pervades its entire coat of scales. Out of a thousand, or per- haps two thousand, this was the only bass that could be tempted, for though the school was followed no other was hooked; yet they were so near that I could have speared them easily enough. So much for this picture of the white sea bass. The following day, possibly, they would bite savagely and could be taken, one after another, without diffi- culty. Whimsical, erratic; both words describe them. The fish come to the islands in numbers from the south in April, — sometimes a little earlier, sometimes later, — and appear to be working up the coast to Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and Anacapa, being taken beyond San Francisco. I had my best luck in May; and to illustrate how these fishes bite when in the humor, a certain first of May may be referred to when in two days I luckily took five white sea bass, my companion taking five. 330 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA On this May Day the harbor of Avalon was filled with schools of sardines, and unexpectedly some one caught a white sea bass, the first of the season. The word was quickly passed, and I was soon on the ground with rod and reel. The big fish were lying under the sardines, the latter rising in every direction, showing that the large game was occasionally charging them from below. The rod used was of greenheart, two- jointed, about seven and a half feet long, about eight ounces in weight; the line was what is known as a No. 15, very small, not much larger than an eyeglass cord, yet capable of sustaining a dead weight of thirty pounds, but so light that a jerk of almost any kind would break it. The leader was about three feet of piano wire, in two links, connected by brass swivels; the hook a No. 7 O'Shaughnessy, to my mind the best all-round hook. These data are interesting to anglers, as the line is what some anglers use for four-pound bass on the St. Lawrence, in Canada, and was used to give the fish more than fair play. The hook was not baited, but lowered among the sar- dines, which were packed so thickly in their terror that a jerk impaled one, and a live bait was the result. The sardine rushed about wildly, sank beneath the school, the line tautened suddenly, zip-zeeeeeeee! the slight boat careening, the reel crying, the reel handle flying around so rapidly that it could not be seen, and a bass was hooked. Avalon Bay is not more than an eighth of a mile across; the bass seemingly went nearly half that dis- tance in the first rush, and it had not been brought to a stand, the boat just moving off gallantly, when my companion shouted, and his reel gave tongue. Being THE WHITE SEA BASS 331 but one hundred feet from shore, we had taken no boatman, and now we were in a dilemma. The first fish was towing the boat ahead at a good pace, while the second dashed astern, and a tug of war followed, which aroused no little enthusiasm among the observ- ers on the wharf and in the boats. But it was a short run. The second fish in a violent flurry broke the line and left the field to the first victim. The boat was a light skiff, and the fish carried it along as if it were being rowed. By this time three other boats had hooked bass, and were rushing about in various directions, making a most animated scene. A lady nearly ran our boat down, being utterly unable to control her fish, the latter finally taking her entirely across the bay. It was landed half an hour later on a hand-line, and found to weigh eighty pounds. My fish was brought in in about twenty minutes, and in less than that time another was hooked. And so the sport became fast and furious. Twenty or more boats were out, and nearly all hooked and landed from one to five white sea bass, among which there probably was not more than one which tipped the scales at less than fifty pounds, that being the minimum; and the largest was nearly eighty pounds. The excitement ran high, and boats were seen darting about in every direction, all flat-bottomed skiffs, readily towed by the splendid fishes, which succeeded in playing havoc with many lines and some rods. How many bass were landed this day is not known, but every fisherman had a string; and as the bass is a fine table fish the catch had a monetary value to the boatmen, to whom the anglers gave the fish. For four or five days this sport continued, then suddenly 332 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA ceased; the school had moved, and the anglers found it several days later at the Isthmus, fifteen miles up the coast, where rare sport was enjoyed from the fine sandy beach, the fish being played up and down in water as smooth as glass. Two days later the anglers of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands had them. As with other fishes, the white sea bass, which is the Cynoscion nobUe of science, varies much in individuals. Some of the large specimens are said to be poor game, others are extraordinary fighters. One is recalled, taken in a charming bay from which lofty cliffs and mountains reached away, that played, or rather fought, half an hour, then being taken by the remarkable agility of the boatman, who had all he could do to keep the angler facing the game, so fierce and rapid were its rushes in great circles about the boat. Per- haps the peculiar feature of this fishing is what might be termed the sociability of the fish which come alongside, and I have hooked a fish directly at the boat when reeling in to replenish the bait, the great fish suddenly dashing out of the depths to seize the remnant of a sardine and dart away, making the reel fairly scream. The bass follow the kelp which lines the shores of the Channel Islands, swimming into the undulations; thus they are caught within a few feet of the shore, the boat slowly moving, the angler either trolling or casting. Little or nothing is known as to the habits of these fishes. They may spawn among the Channel Islands, but no small fishes are ever found here, though the large ones are filled with spawn. In 1908 a large school of medium-sized fishes, weighing from twelve Photograph by Roy Shaver, Los Angeles PLAYING AXD GAFFING THE LEAPING TUNA Catch of Mr. C. G. Conn, taken after a four-hour play THE WHITE SEA BASS 333 to thirty pounds, came in June and remained until September. They were reported from Santa Cruz later, but they afforded poor sport, though numbers were taken on spoons. A smaller species, known as sea trout, are occasionally taken inshore and in the Santa Barbara Channel, but rarely at the southern islands. As a rule the white sea bass is expected April 15 (though in 1910 it appeared in February, Mr. Whitman, of New York, taking a fifty-five- pounder in that month), and it should remain about all the islands until September in great schools. They are often seen lying in the kelp, where they present an alluring spectacle — pictures of dignity and repose. In September at Santa Cruz and Capitola I have seen schools of them lying near and under the schools of anchovies, the fish averaging seventy or eighty pounds. The Italian fishermen were taking them at night in gill-nets, and I saw them come in literally by the ton. The largest of these fishes are now taken on the three- six tackle previously described. The clubs recog- nize the white sea bass as a game fish of the first class, and many cups and trophies are offered for the largest fish of the season. Mr. C. H. Harding, of Philadelphia, holds the rod record with a fish weighing sixty pounds. He offers a white sea bass gold medal for the largest fish over sixty pounds. Mr. A. L. Beebe took the record fish of 1909 (forty-six and three-fourths pounds) and received the silver medal of the Light Tackle Club. It is difficult to point out any special ground for them. Larco of Santa Barbara knows their habits in the Santa Barbara Islands. I have never seen them at San Clemente or San Nicolas, but they of course 334 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA visit all these islands in their great pilgrimages up and down the coast. They winter in the vicinity of Ense- nada and Magdalena. Their habits are similar to those of the yellowtail, though they remain more in schools. I haye never known them to be caught in numbers on the south- west side of Santa Catalina, the best ground being from the east end to Avalon and from the Isthmus to Ship Rock, along the kelp. I cannot wish an angler along the Channel Islands, north or south, from Santa Barbara to Los Coronados, better luck than to hook, play, and land with three-six tackle a fifty-pound white sea bass. The following are some of the Tuna Club rod records of white sea bass: Largest White Sea Bass (jCynoscion) Pounds Edward M. Boggs, Oakland, Cal., season 1899' 58 Wm. P. Adams, Chicago, HI., season 1903 52 C. H. Harding, Philadelphia, Pa., season 1904 60 E. C. Wilson, Denver, Col., season 1905 36 *A. L. Beebe, Portland, Ore., season 1906 34 ♦Arthur J. Eddy, Chicago, 111., season 1906 34 *Mrs. E. H. Brewster, Avalon, Cal., season 1907 53 *S. A. Barron, El Paso, Tex., season 1908 40 *A. L. Beebe, Portland, Ore., season 1908 40 *A. L. Beebe, Portland, Ore., season 1909 46f * Taken with nine-ounce rods and No. 9 lines. CHAPTER XXX THE AMBER FISH THE reader of these lines who has fished the Florida Reef and the Indian River country will have tried conclusions at Palm Beach, perhaps, with a noble quarry — the amberjack, and it is fair to assume that if he has taken a fish of over fifty pounds it made an impression not to be effaced in all the years of sport that follow. The amberjack rejoices in the name Seriola lalandi, a euphonious term showing it to be a cousin of a famous fish found about the blue waters of the Channel Islands, a cousin with a long, beautiful dorsal fin; hence it is known as Seriola dorsalis, and as it has radiant tints of gold-yellow and amber on its tail and a gorgeous side stripe of the same tint, it is called the amber fish or yellowtail. The peacock is really the most beautiful of birds, as the abalone is the most gorgeous of shells, but they are so common that we think little of them. If pearls were as large as billiard balls and could be had by the ton we should not appreciate them. So the yellow- tail, being the fish of the people, caught with ease, evidently eager to try conclusions with the merest tyro of an angler, does not receive the full share of appreciation it deserves as one of the world's great game fishes. I shall never forget my first view of Avalon Bay 335 336 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA when I landed, in 1886. Men and boys were standing on the beach catching yellowtails with cod hand-lines. As fast as they could cast they had strikes. The fish ranged from twenty to thirty-five pounds in weight, and every few moments there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth as a yellowtail would break the ropes they were fishing with. I watched this scene until the fishermen became so involved in their lines that the sport waned and the splendid school of fish pulled out, some bearing from their jaws streaming white lines and hooks innumerable. I returned to the mainland filled with the desire of purchasing Santa Catalina, which at that time was a sheep ranch owned by the Lick estate of San Francisco. I believe the capitalists of the then new country imag- ined that I was a mild lunatic from the wilds of New York City, when I propounded to them the proposi- tion that any island so near a prospective great city like Los Angeles, where thirty-pound fishes like the yellowtail could be caught so readily, was better than a gold mine. Santa Catalina, a sheep ranch at that time, could perhaps have been bought for fifty thou- sand or one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and there were fifty-five thousand acres. That was twenty- four years ago; and the yellowtails and their friends, with a soupcon of perfect climate thrown in, have in 1910 made this island the gold mine I prophesied; for I question if this one island could be bought at any price. There was something more than guessing in this. I knew that fishing had a charm for nearly all the people. I knew how the bluefish drew hundreds in the East to the various fishing-grounds, and here was THE AMBER FISH 337 a fish far ahead of the bluefish. I drew a mental picture of it being played with a rod and light line, and it was not long before I again arrived at Avalon with an old black-bass rod that had a record of four- and-one-half and five-and-one-half-pound black bass in the St. Lawrence River. I well remember when I displayed this rod to the only guide and boatman, Mexican Joe, who lived in a canon about four miles up the coast. He glanced at it, then at me, and laughed heartily at my temerity as I explained to him that I was going to catch yellowtails with it. This was the first rod ever seen at Santa Catalina, and only recently Joe and I were fishing for yellowtails at Silver Canon. I had landed three or four on my delicate three-six tackle when I hooked a big fellow and Joe's big genial laugh rang out again as I smashed the rod in mere carelessness. Long ago Joe turned on the hand-line, and is now a convert to the finest rods for all fishes. At that time Joe was the only boatman and guide; now there are dozens of boatmen, and Joe is the dean of the corps. What he does not know about the art of sea-angling in the Channel Islands is not worth knowing. If the winter is very warm, yellowtails are caught every month in the year; but the fish is migratory, ranging from Lower California up the coast as far as Monterey, and found in the greatest numbers about the Channel Islands and particularly San Clemente and Santa Catalina. In the winter, when the rains are profuse, the yellowtails leave the islands and go out to sea to the offshore banks and far to the south. They return in March and April in great schools, then break up into small ones or in pairs, affording sport 338 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA of the finest kind to the thousands who visit these islands. The yellowtail of thirty pounds is to my mind the equal of several bluefish; that is, could, if in a tug of war, pull them around and drown them. This is my impression after having taken scores of each kind with rod and reel. A twenty-five-pound yellowtail in its prime is the true king of fishes for fighting qualities, pugnacity, and the happy faculty of never discovering that it is defeated. I was fishing one day in Catalina harbor with a friend. We had taken a flour barrel from the yacht in which to place our fish. My companion hooked a yellowtail, played it a long time, indeed until he was weary. The boatman gaffed it, and as he dropped it into the barrel the angler remarked that the fish did not know when it was whipped. It certainly did not, as at that moment it made a bound, cleared the barrel and landed in the water. The yellowtail attains, on the authority of the author of "The Voyage of the Cachelot," a weight of one hundred pounds. I have seen one that weighed eighty pounds dressed; Mr. Conn took an eighty- pounder in Mexico; but the average fish at Santa Catalina runs from seventeen to twenty-five pounds, with many at thirty and a few at forty-five and fifty. At San Clemente they seem to run larger; in 1907-08 I found fishes there in large numbers up to forty pounds. Mr. William W. Simpson holds the rod record of the Tuna Club with a fish weighing sixty-one and one-half pounds, — an exceptional catch which created a sensation. It now hangs on the wall of Mr, Simpson's THE AMBER FISH 339 beautiful home in England. The next record fish, that of Mr. Alfred L. Beebe, hangs in the Tuna Club as a trophy of the club. The fish is one of the most beautiful that swims. As you see it beneath a floating island of kelp or swim- ming along the cliffs of the islands, the back appears an olive-green, the fins and tail yellow or amber, the belly a vivid silver; altogether a resplendent creature, with a large, expressive, liquid, blue eye. The head is large and the general shape of the fish is something like that of a salmon; so much so that an old name for the fish is the white salmon, or amber fish; but yellow- tail is its proper name. I have seen the seas tinted with them when not a fish would bite; again I have seen a school rush into Avalon Bay, drive the sardines out onto the sands, charging them like grenadiers, rush- ing here and there, biting at everything from a rag to a bone, carrying devastation everywhere among the small fry and the anglers' lines. There are almost always a few yellowtails about Avalon Bay in winter, but they are educated fishes, and you may find these intellectual giants in any school. They will seize every sardine you throw over, but always refuse the bait that hides a hook. For weeks a yellowtail lived near the Avalon dock in 1901. I hooked him several times. I saw him hooked twice in an hour. As soon as he felt the hook he swam out one hundred feet or so, turned and came at the dock with a rush, wound the line about it, broke it, and in ten minutes was back at his old place with lines dan- gling from his jaw. The yellowtail is the fish of the people. Boys, children, women, all fish for it, and few anglers can 340 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA resist its game plays. In fact the Bay of Avalon will often be crowded in some place with rowboats, each containing two or three men, women, or children, all provided with light rods of various kinds, and all fishing for yellowtail. I have seen forty or nearly twice as many anchored here together, and over two hundred anglers. Every time a fish was hooked the entire yellowtail village would raise a shout that echoed far back and up the canons of the Isle of Summer, and they would continue to shout until the fish was landed, cheering the angler, urging him on to victory as the game fish towed him about. The yellowtail is generally fished for by trolling slowly from a launch. The tackle is a nine-ounce rod, nine-thread line, or a six-ounce rod and a six or num- ber three line. The leader is of wire, eight or ten inches longer; the hook is a number seven, to which is affixed a sardine six or seven inches long. This is hooked on so that it will run well, the mouth of the sardine being bound with wire. If your boatman understands his business he will have several of these all ready, unhook- ing the leader from the line and hooking on another without waiting to bait the hook. If you desire to fish for very large yellowtails your boatman uses flying- fish eighteen inches long — an extraordinary bait for this fish, but a part of its natural food. Your launch, for which you pay (for two) six dollars for half a day or ten per day, is stout, well built, eighteen or twenty feet long, more or less. She is a sea boat,, though no seas are generally met with, as the fishing is along- shore. She has a powerful ten or more horse-power gasoline engine, a hood to raise over the bow, and should have sails, awnings, oars, etc. The wheel is THE CORONADO ISLANDS Off San Diego and Coronado Beach THE FACE OF CORONADO Coronado Islands THE AMBER FISH S41 amidships, on the side; and here the boatman, who is engineer, helmsman, and gaffer, sits; his right hand on the wheel, his left on the clutch of the engine. Across the stern is a broad seat with two comfortable chairs in which the anglers sit facing the stern; one fishing to the right, the other to the left. The fishing-ground at Santa Catalina is at Seal Rocks, three miles down, to the east end, alongshore to Church Rock, or off Silver Canon; but always near inshore, and generally in deep, smooth water, like that of a lake. If it is a little rough at Church Rock, you run back to Seal Rocks where the sea is like glass. The best fishing at the northwest end is at the Isthmus, at Ship Rock, where usually large yellowtails may be had. It is not necessary to tell the angler this, as he is a philosopher and understands the situation; but it is necessary to tell the non-angler, the reader who is about to become one, that the yellowtail, which can be caught by the boat-load, apparently, to-day, will pos- sibly not bite the next day at the same place, or he may bite still fiercer. In a word, even here in the Channel Islands, which have without question the finest sea-angling in the world, there is an element of uncertainty. Were it not for this no one would fish; for nothing so palls on one as to become satiated with fishing. If you can go out at any time, as I often have done, and catch big yellowtails as fast as you can reel them in, the pleasure is soon gone. Some seasons here the fishing is good at one island, poor at another; now it will be beyond the dreams of the most ambitious angler, the next day the reverse. But the average here is beyond 342 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA anything one can find anywhere else, and the moral is that the angler must take luck as he finds it. In 1908 big twenty-five, thirty-five, and forty-pound yellow- tails bit so fiercely at San Clemente at the east end and all along the coast, that I was very weary after a day's fishing, though I rarely took more than five or six, more often three or four. We fished with the lightest tackle, and the combats — that is the only word to use — were often over an hour or an hour and a half in duration. This brings us to a definition of a morning's fishing. Doubtless the reader will not agree with me, but I believe that three yellowtails taken with a three-six rod and line, each of which plays from half an hour to an hour, is enough to constitute a good morning's sport; the fish to weigh from seventeen to twenty-five pounds. Of course one often takes many more than this. I should also mention that the fish not needed by the boatmen are released so they will be on hand again in a day or so, reminding one of the old English sportsman who had fine shooting all summer at one snipe which he never could hit. I think the angler will agree with me that the angling at the islands is not all in the fish caught. It is a delight- ful diversion to sail up and down the coast twenty miles out to sea, in perfectly smooth water; there is so much to see, the air is so pure and delicious, the radiant animals of the ocean so strange, the ocean so blue. I have suggested the tackle, and as we move out of the bay with Tad Gray, Mexican Joe, Chris Ringsen, or some one of the many excellent boatmen at the wheel, you reel off sixty or one hundred feet of line, THE AMBER FISH 343 hold the rod across your knee, your thumb resting on the leather pad or thumb stall which forms the brake, and revel in the scenery — the beauties of the bay, the mountains that climb into the air, the deep shadows of the cliffs. All at once the click gives out a brazen note, a sort of z-e-e-e-e-e-e! You close your thumb on the brake, are alert on the moment, and see the really splendid rush this yellowtail makes. You may have caught salmon, but this fish can drown a salmon of twice its weight. You may have taken bluefish, or drum, or weakfish, but you never experienced before just this kind of thrill that the typical twenty-five- pound yellowtail in good fighting trim gives you as he garners one hundred and fifty feet of line. After a while you stop him. The boatman has thrown off the engine, and you are now introduced to a real game fish. I am not going to anticipate your pleasure by describing all the sensations of the sport, or the methods of the yellowtail, but he will give you the play of your life, and every once in a while comes the vicious z-e-e-e-e! as he makes a rush which nothing can withstand. Then, when you bring him up and he circles around the boat, never giving up, bearing off, if you really need him, the gaffer slips the gaff under him and lifts him, still fighting, into the boat. You then see that his back, which was green in the water, is now a splendid sapphire blue. Yellowtail fishing when the fish are large and biting is, to use the term that has been frayed to a frazzle, "strenuous sport"; there is no other word that just describes it. The fish bites so readily that it is manifestly unfair to use anything but the fine tackle 344 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA all the boatmen are supplied with — preferably a nine or six ounce rod and a nine or six thread line. Mr. Crandall, of the Ashaway, R. I., line manufactory, has introduced a number three line, which he has called the three-six club-line, that is, while a mere thread, strong enough and big enough to take the average yellowtail. I do not forget that the reader can and will fish with just the tackle he pleases, but the waste of fish at all these islands has been the source of regret to all anglers in Southern California, and the suggestion of light tackle is to aid in preventing this. Some of the methods at Avalon may be of interest. There is an absolute scale of prices for launches; rowboats are of course much less, and the angler can row out into the bay, or down the coast, or he can fish from the dock; but the launch is the best plan. The professional fisher- man, Vincente Moriche, supplies all the boatmen with sardine bait, and they in return give all the catch to Vincente; that is, all the angler does not need for his personal use. This is a mutual accommodation. Flying-fish must be bought, the rate depending on the supply, which varies; for the fishing here fluctuates just as the trout are changeable in their moods. If the angler breaks the fine rods of the boatmen he is supposed to replace them, and the angler will find the regular men of Avalon honorable in charging for all these items. Photographers are at hand to "take" notable catches, and the island taxidermist mounts the large fishes in an attractive manner. The rates for launches are: Six dollars for two anglers half a day, or ten dollars for all day (from six or seven or eight in the morning until five in the afternoon). THE AMBER FISH 345 The habits of the yellowtail are more or less mys- terious. They undoubtedly spawn here, but in many years' fishing I have never seen a yellowtail under three or four pounds, though smaller fish have been seen; but I doubt if the very young a few inches long are ever seen. Whether they take to the deep water or not is unknown. All the Channel Islands abound in yellowtails, but they decrease in number as you go north. In the winter, or from December to March or April, they are found down the coast of Lower Cal- ifornia in vast numbers. Mr. C. G. Conn has cruised for two years in the Gulf of California in his yacht, Comfort, and caught very large yellowtail — one an eighty-pounder, — finding among these islands a virgin field for the angler. It is not all trolling when fishing for yellowtail; at times they bite better in "still-fishing." Then the angler can cast and play the fish standing, with the butt of his light rod in his belt socket. Again, they are found four or five miles out to sea, beneath great patches of floating kelp, and can be picked off, one by one. There is but one drawback in yellowtail fishing. They are almost always played in blue water, and the average fish will plunge down and sulk like a salmon. If he could always be played in shallow water it would be the sport of kings; and just this sport I have had between Mosquito Harbor and the east end of San Clemente, where the splendid game circled on the surface like a bonito and I raced after it at full speed. This sport can be had at Catalina Harbor, where the water is shallow; at least I have had it there, not to speak of sport with the leaping sharks in near shore. 346 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA The record rod and reel yellowtail catches of the Tuna Club since 1898 are as follows: Pounds F. V. Rider, Avalon, Cal., season 1898 41 F. S. Gerrish, Jacksonville, Fla., season 1899 37 R. F. Stocking, Los Angeles, Cal., season 1900 . . 48 T. S. Manning, Avalon, Cal., season 1901 33 Dr. Trowbridge, Fresno, Cal., season 1002 47J F. P. Newport, Los Angeles, Cal., season 1903 ... 46 H. Meyst, Chicago, 111., season 1904 44 J. E. Pflueger, Akron, Ohio, season 1905 43 *A. A. Carraher, Avalon, Cal., season 1906 38J •Edward C. Sacks, Butte, Mont., season 1007 4if *W. W. Simpson, England, season 1908 60J *C. E. Ellis, Spokane, Wash., season 1909 48! The Tuna and Light Tackle Clubs, as well as the Three-Six Club, the last two branches of the Tuna Club, offer beautiful cups, medals, and prizes for record yellowtails; these are referred to in the chapter on the Tuna Club. * Taken with nine-ounce rods and nine-thread lines. CHAPTER XXXI TAMENESS OF ANIMALS AMONG THE CHANNEL ISLANDS THE feature which will really amaze the wan- derer among the Channel Islands is the tameness of some animals. To meet a bull sea-lion weighing approximately half a ton, on the main avenue of a town, fifty feet from the water, is a pos- sibility of a startling nature, yet I have seen Old Ben, the head of the Santa Catalina sea-lion rookery, on Crescent Avenue, Avalon, surrounded by tourists who snapped their cameras at him with impunity. At that time Ben could be induced to come ashore when the lure was a fat, long-finned tuna; but one day he climbed upon the wharf, coming entirely up the steps, follow- ing the man with a fish. Then some unreasonable person made a threatening demonstration; Ben started for the steps, lost his hold, slipped, and fell, smashing them and wounding himself. For a long time he remembered this, but gradually his faith in human beings has returned and the men can call him up on the boat-landing of the float or out upon the beach, by showing a succulent fish. When very hungry he has permitted himself to be touched or patted by one of the fishermen. He is good-tempered and never attempts to bite. But he is a savage-looking animal, and when he comes leaping up on the boat landing, driving off women and chil- dren by mere ferocity of appearance, and seizing their 847 348 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA fish, as he did recently, he makes a very clever imita- tion of a savage and ferocious beast. A few years ago many of the sea-lions were killed by vandals; but laws were passed, and for a number of years the sea-lions have been protected. The rookery has increased in size until a split has recently occurred, and another settlement has been established half-way up the island at White Rock. It has been the custom of fishermen for years in cleaning their fish to toss the refuse into the bay, and the sea-lions formed the habit of coming down to the bay at this time to dine thereupon. At first only one or two came; now a band of two large bulls and several females make their headquarters at the bay, or spend most of the time there, constituting a valuable sanitary corps, as they eat every fragment of fish, the gulls joining in the feast. When not feeding, the sea-lions pass the time within a few feet of the beach, sleeping or playing, the females and young leaping from the water and going through various tricks of interest to the amazed looker-on. But a few feet away from the sea-lions are the boat- stands of the fishermen and boatmen, and boats are moving out and over the sea-lions constantly; yet they are apparently oblivious of the men, who never molest them. This has had a peculiar result. The enormous animals have become so tame that they almost allow the men to touch them, and readily come out upon the shore to feed from their hands. It so happened that I was upon the sands one day when no sea-lions were in sight; and upon my asking a boatman where they were, he began to whistle as if calling for a dog, TAMENESSOF ANIMALS 349 and to call, "Here, Ben!" repeating the call several times; whereupon out from among the anchored boats appeared not only Ben, but two large bull sea-lions, which must have weighed half a ton each, followed by two or three smaller females. The boatman tossed some pieces of albacore into the water, which the sea- lions dashed for, and down upon their heads plunged several score of gulls, paying not the slightest atten- tion to the huge animals cavorting about. The sea- lions seized the dead fish under water, brought it to the surface, and with a violent swing back and forth tore the fish in pieces, the birds taking the rejectamenta, while several large pelicans floated in the immediate vicinity ready to pounce upon any fragment that came their way. Not ten feet from this interesting scene floated several boats containing spectators, yet the wild animals paid no attention to them, affording a remarkable illustration of the tameness of animals when protected. When this fish was disposed of, the boatman took a large albacore by the tail and walked down the beach, calling the sea-lion, Ben, by name. The animal responded at once, coming inshore with a rush, fol- lowed by two others. The boatman gradually retreated up the beach, the huge animals following him, in their clumsy waddle, resembling gigantic slugs more than anything else; finally they took the fish from the man's hands. The scene was remarkable, the confidence manifested in the man complete. This is a dramatic situation that occurs often at Avalon Bay on the main beach of the little town, afford- ing a free show to visitors and sojourners on the 350 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA island. The rookery where the animals make their headquarters is about two miles distant. The sea- lions are so tame there that they can be approached with ease, and are the constant objects of amateur photographers, who visit the locality in yachts and boats of various kinds. The wild quail or partridge of Southern California will enter gardens, and nest there; and in the protected season I have seen a flock standing in an island road, a jaunty male between them and my horse not twenty feet away — moving only when I moved, and then with reluctance. Several years ago some residents on one of the Channel Islands of Southern California intro- duced a number of black-tailed deer, which were protected to such extent that in time they discovered that they were privileged characters, and assumed nearly the absolute -contempt for human beings held by the sacred bulls of India, that crowd men and women from the road. They persisted in entering gardens day and night, destroying the plants, and finally, to locate them, the dwellers on the island had bells fastened to them. One buck made his home near the town of Cabrillo, and walked about the place and over the hills with the freedom of a dog. When a boat landed off the pier the buck ran down to greet the newcomers and share their lunch, and became a welcome guest at barbecues and lobster and clam bakes. As time went on this deer through attention became extremely arro- gant, and began to resent any lack of attention; in a word, like many persons, he could not stand prosperity. One day when an old lady refused to allow him to eat her lunch, the buck drew off and bowled the lady over. TAMENESSOF ANIMALS 351 This seemed to open up a new field of pleasure to the deer (and women particularly appeared to be the object of his enmity), which at last became so pro- nounced that the animal had to be placed in confine- ment. Nearly all animal life is protected on this island. I have counted nearly half a hundred bald eagles in an eleven-mile run, and have seen them take a fish from the water within easy gunshot. They build their nests on pinnacles that are not difficult of approach. The sea birds are equally tame. Gulls gather in flocks a few feet from those who feed them; in the winter flocks of cormorants and loons swim into the bays, and are so tame that they merely divide when a boat passes, and fishermen often find that the cormorants take off bait almost as fast as they can put it on. Gulls dash at bait; I have seen a long- winged, petrel-like bird follow my line under water at a cast, using its wings to fly along, and take the bait; and at times scores of sea birds are seen inshore feeding upon small shrimps, paying no atention to observers photographing them. I have had eagles try to seize my bait — a flying- fish — fifty or one hundred feet astern. Seals and sea- lions will do the same, also gulls. The latter in Avalon Bay are almost as completely domesticated as fowls. In winter flocks of loons and other sea birds enter the bay, and I have seen them at San Nicolas and Santa Cruz, so tame that they merely swam to the right and left as our boat moved along. The angler in these waters will invariably be im- pressed by the tameness of fishes. Yellowtail, sea bass, and others will be hooked at the boat at times, 352 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA and I have seen columns of white sea bass, averaging fifty pounds, swim so near that I have touched them with an oar. I have seen, from a glass-bottomed boat, a diver in armor who went down in Avalon Bay, sitting on the bottom, feeding fish with broken echini which he held in his hands. The whales one sees when crossing the channel are indifferent to vessels, and will sometimes swim along- side. The orcas, fifteen or twenty feet long, seem indifferent to human beings, and swim along within twenty or thirty feet of the boat or pass under it. The great sunfish has permitted, me to rush alongside and grasp it by its fin. But if the angler desires to see really tame fishes he should go out a mile or so from Avalon some warm still day and have his boatman "chum" up long-finned tunas or albacores and boni- tos. When hungry they will almost take food from one's hand. I have caught them by placing a sardine on the point of the gaff, and as the tuna, a forty- pounder, snatched the lure, not two feet from my hand, I would jerk the hook into it and land the fish. This seems almost impossible; but I think, could I have reached down farther under water, I could have fed these radiantly colored fishes out of my hand, as many persons have fed wild birds. CHAPTER XXXII THE PEARLS OF THE ISLANDS DURING the last Summer I was drifting down the coast of Santa Catalina Island, trolling for yellowtail, when I noticed something that looked like a seal come up inshore and go down in the same spot. The movement of the animal was so pecul- iar that I told my boatman to run the launch inshore; and then I discovered that my seal was a Japanese, and soon from behind a rock appeared a boat. I found there were four or five Japanese. Their boat was a "double-ender," like the ordinary boat of the Italians of San Francisco, but in the stern of this, on deck, was a brick fireplace where the men cooked. They were black pearl and abalone shell hunters, one crew out of numbers which have so thoroughly plucked the entire Pacific coast that there is little left for the American whenever he opens his eyes to the value of the fast disappearing mollusk. The shell is the abalone, the ear-shell, or the Haliotis of science. It is as large as the open hand, and when ground on the outside is a thing of beauty, the most beautiful of all mother-of-pearl. Tons of these shells are sold to go to Germany, where in the child-labor homes and factories of Vienna they are made into a thousand peculiar things, and sent back to Catalina and other tourist resorts for sale — a curious commentary on S53 354 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA what cheap labor can do. Perhaps the largest number of abalone shells are polished and sold as shells. Two or three species are known about the islands. As a rule they are found clinging to the rocks in water from eight to twenty feet deep. It is not easy to get them, which possibly explains why the Americans allow the Japanese to monopolize the trade. There are laws limiting the catch to a certain size, but the collectors often disregard it. The abalone has other values; the meat is dried and exported, and in some of the shells black and white pearls are found, and often black blister pearls of value. Thirty years ago, so the story goes, a black pearl was found in an abalone in these waters that brought three thousand dollars in London, and many of smaller value have been found. As we drew near the Japanese they were seen to have on big goggles. They were perfectly at home in the water and appeared like seals. Each man had a short chisel and a box with a glass bottom. The method of procedure was as follows: They anchored the big boat and swam out to where the waves were not heavy, in water fifteen feet or so deep. They then tipped the box and looked down into it until they located a shell, then disappeared, leaving the box to float On the surface. Their method of going down was so much like that of a seal — throwing the legs up above their dark short bodies, that the resemblance was exact at a distance. The time they remained down, a minute if necessary, seemed mterminable; but up they would come, each man having an abalone in his grasp. This was dropped in the glass box, and after locating another shell, down the human seal would go to pry it off. GEMS AND PEARLS OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS THE PEARLS OF THE ISLANDS 355 Drifting near them, we saw the modus operandi plainly. The man by much practice could locate the shell, and swimming down he held onto the rock with one hand, while with the other he pried off the big shell, perhaps two, as they are often found one upon the other. Successful, he swam to the surface; in short, he was for all practical purposes as much at home in the water as a seal. When the little box was filled the collectors swam over to the boat and emptied it, crawled aboard and hovered about the fire with pieces of sail-cloth or coats over their shoulders until they got warm, when they again dropped overboard to continue the work. On the forward deck was a pile of shells which must have weighed half a tonj and in another heap were the meats. The shells were to be scraped, dried, and polished; the meat dried and smoked, and sold to the canners and to the markets, as it makes a delicious chowder. The bulk is dried for export to China and India. The men evidently did not wish to be watched, and only when we pre- tended to fish did they go overboard again, diving like otters and coming up with three or four shells. Few if any shells were missed, as by a systematic arrangement the divers moved down the coast in lines, covering every rock or stone. While the law regulates the size to be taken there was no one in sight to measure them; so it is fair to suppose that every shell possible was taken. At the town of Cabrillo, Santa Catalina, where there is a good brisk wind on some summer days, the scene changes. On the beach is a thickset, jolly-looking old fellow who is in the business. He buys the big shells of the Japanese or any one if he cannot get them him- 356 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA self, as he cannot match cleverness with the Japanese. He is too fat to dive, too clumsy to swim, and he would freeze if in the water five or six hours; again, he is afraid of the sharks that never come. So he goes out with a chisel on the end of a long pole, and looks down into the water from a comfortable boat through a water glass, the kind the Japanese carry. He sees a shell, pries it off, then stabs it with a barbed hook, and lifts it up. This is the American plan, — slow, ten times as slow as the system of the Japanese, who, until the American discovered it, went down in a regular armor and walked into the zone of the abalone; then he took them by the armful, literally looting the entire Pacific coast. What they are taking now is the remnant after years of looting. Twenty years ago I landed at San Clemente Island and found that a clever old Chinese genius was carry- ing on a twofold business, making it pay both going and coming. The old Chinaman was a smuggler, but on the surface he was an abalone fisherman. He made his headquarters on San Clemente Island, a place rarely visited in winter. Some one who owned a little schooner brought Chinamen up the coast from Mexico and landed them at San Clemente — an easy thing to do when the Government had only one revenue cutter on the coast, and that up north all the time. As soon as the men were landed they began to collect aba- lones, and the day I stumbled on their camp they had hundreds piled up in heaps — shells and meat. Upon seeing me a number of men ran for a big tent. I ran after them, and when I reached the tent I threw open the fly. They were a demoralized lot of smug- THE PEARLS OF THE ISLANDS 357 glers. I laughed, and that raised their spirits; they had taken me for a revenue officer. The abalone shells were shipped to Germany, the meat went to China. Every week, I fancy, a few China- men were sent over to the mainland in an old junk that was always drifting up and down the channel. At night she would drift inshore; a boat would be sent into some convenient spot, the Chinese would land, and by the next day they would have walked the twenty miles to Los Angeles and were lost in the local Chinatown. The old junk would run into San Pedro in the morning, and her Chinese crew, with certificates, would land the crop of abalones, after which they would set sail again for San Clemente. The old man on the beach buys abalones from the Japanese. He has an extraordinary machine or instru- ment for polishing the shells. He sits near the grind- stone, at the other end of which is a windmill wheel. The wind turns the wheel and polishes his abalone with little discomfort to him — no leg work at least. When he picks up a shell as large as one's hand, or larger (it may be a black, red, pink, or yellow abalone; there are several kinds), you see that the inside is beautiful; but the outside is ugly, with shells^ seaweed, boring-worms, serpulae, and other sea animals which make their home on rocks and shells. This he presses against the wheel, and presto! the dirt is ground off and the surface becomes the same rich mother-of-pearl found in the interior of the shell; but it is only when the final polishing is given it that the beauty of the abalone is seen, — there is really nothing more gorgeous and beautiful than this shell. Many shells are polished in Los Angeles and at Ava- 3S8 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA Ion, where there is a skilful polisher who can leave a black or white cross on the shell in a marvellous man- ner; or he may cut it or polish it so that the letters of your name or some insignia appear. There are two kinds of pearls found in the abalone shells. One is round or uneven, resembling the ordi- nary pearl of commerce. These are found lying be- tween the animal and the shell, or often in the folds of the animal, but attached to it. These are most often black, and some really beautiful abalone pearls have been found. The light ones come in various shapes, and are sold to the jeweller, who mounts them as pins, and uses them as ornaments. Another product of the abalone, greatly in vogue, is the abalone blister, a large central pearl that grades off into the shell and looks before it is taken off like a mere protuberance; hence the trade name, "blister." These attain a diameter of an inch or more, and are often beautiful, radiating innumerable colors and tints in the sunlight, while the white ones have a peculiar chatoyancy which adds to their value. That the abalone industry of the Pacific Coast has been attended to by both the Japanese and the Chinese is well known; and that it will be entirely wiped out before many years, as far as its commercial value is concerned, is a foregone conclusion. CHAPTER XXXin TRADES OF THE ISLANDS AS might be expected, there are many curious trades at the Channel Islands, trades found nowhere else. A small army of boys make a good living by diving for nickels when the steamers come into Avalon Bay, and they have become very expert. They also follow the glass-bottomed boats and dive for shells. Fifty or more boatmen or gaffers own a fleet of boats here which in perfect equipment of expensive rods and tackle are unique. Then come the men of the glass-bottomed boats following their strange vocation. To be captain of a glass-bottomed boat, like "Marine Jimmy" or Joe Adargo, is to have a lucrative business. Here are several men who put in their time in winter in collecting antiquities, open- ing graves, and selling their finds to the big museums. The abalone-hunter is armed with a long pole with a chisel at the end, and there are boats with Japanese crews which dive for the beautiful shells and pry them off, as we have seen. The extraordinary business in curios is shown by two large shops at Avalon ablaze with radiant abalone shells, fishes, and all the wonders of the sea. Here is a man who keeps a living fish exhibition; another who goes down in armor in the bay. At Cabrillo, a town on the west end, several men hunt abalone pearls; and one polishes abalones to order. At Avalon there is a shop where moonstones 859 360 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA are polished while you wait- You go to Moonstone Beach in the big glass-bottomed steamers of the Meteor Boat Company and find your moonstones, and for a small sum receive the polished semi-gem before you leave. A typical Yankee skipper and a fine old man is a "sand-dabber," who hauls up the succulent flounders from deep water with a winch; another is a grouper fisherman for the market; and on the beach early in the morning you may see Vincente Moriche, who is a bait-catcher, or employs a number of men with seines to accomplish this important work. They also set nets for flying-fishes and others at night. Early in the morning you may see shell-hunters on the beach. They make long strings of shells, and many strings make a portiere worth twenty or even fifty dollars. Sometimes they find a nautilus, and this means- from ten to twenty dollars. Then there is the seaweed- hunter, who sells to collectors;- the artist who paints jelly-fishes. Another set of men are crayfish-catchers using pots or traps which they set at the various islands, sending the catch to Los Angeles. A big, low power boat which runs into all the nooks and corners is a "sardiner." She nets twenty tons at a time with a big purse-net. These go to the cannery at Los Angeles, across the channel, and are said to be the equal of the Italian and French product. The little settlement of Chinamen of Catalina Harbor catch oil sharks for the livers, which they try out; the fins they send to China. This man who is always poring over the rejectamenta of the fishes has a hobby for collecting eyes and "ear stones." The former are dyed and made into pins; the latter are sold as links DEVIL FISH CROUCHING FOR A LEAP if ^ '^ 4 dis • r ( IB 6, ^K *' c '■ yji L 3j| * 1 7 1^ ^1 • "I i -' SCENE IN THE KELP BEDS TRADES OF THE ISLANDS 361 or sleeve-buttons. Then there are guides, as Mexican Joe and Joe Adargo, who know the wild goat country well and who take you out with a guarantee of game. Perhaps the most interesting thing at the island is the uses to which everything is put. At Santa Bar- bara the beautiful abalone shells taken at the islands are worked into electric light shades and many other articles. At Anacapa and Santa Cruz I met a man who collected kelp (Nereocystis), which he sent to Los Angeles to a factory that employs many girls, who convert the seaweed into countless articles. "It's funny that no one has thought about this before," said the little man. "You see, it grows all along the coast from San Francisco to Patagonia, and is a long green and amber-hued vine. Down on the South American coast and the Falkland Islands it is five hundred or even one thousand feet long, and small vessels can tie up to it; but up here it ranges thirty or forty feet, a long stem, and this big fluted leaf, ten feet or so long. "You know," continued the weed-collector, "all great discoveries are made by accident, so some inven- tive genius in walking along the sands found a twisted stem of kelp several feet long. He took it home, dried it, and found that he had a staff as hard as stone. He made two canes of it, and after oiling them up sold them to a dealer for two dollars apiece and got an order for more. I am not the original genius, but I am not far behind on the kelp question. I have a partner up in the city, and you would hardly believe it, but we have in the season thirty or more girls at work making kelp curios. "You see this piece?" and the old man hauled the 362 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA long amber-hued vine up out of the water. "The stem is made into a dozen, perhaps less, canes. We dry it under slow heat, polish it, touch it up with oil and have a freak cane, — not the kind you would want to carry on Broadway, but our patrons don't all walk on Broadway. They belong to the great rich tourist class from the towns and cities of the Middle West; farmers who make enough in summer to come out to California and live all winter, and they are the people who will buy anything that they have never seen before, and kelp hits them hard. "Of course, canes are not the only things we make. You see, we offer premiums to oUr girls for new ideas, and they are constantly inventing things; and as a result we have a lot of standard kelp articles, as cups, baskets, chains, necklaces, paper weights, German favors, and almost everything you can think of or that can be twisted into shape. Between you and me, it is about the homeliest lot of stuff that was ever turned out for the tourist trade, but it sells; they want it, and we propose to supply it if we loot the whole Pacific Ocean. Then, again, my share of the partner- ship is not so bad as it might be. "It keeps me out of doors, and wandering along the beach is not such a disagreeable pastime as one might imagine. I see a lot of curious things — diversions that some people would give a good deal to see. I come down at flood tide, pick up the kelp and haul it high above the water mark, and in a little while I can cover three or four miles. Then I come down from my place, back here a mile from the beach, with a hay wagon, and we pack the kelp in as we would hay, though it is much heavier. Then it is carried to my TRADES OF THE ISLANDS S63 place where it is assorted. The stems are all put together, all the leaf parts in one place; in fact we have a regular system of classification, and in the shop it is carefully carried out. Thus, one of the popular objects is a comical imitation of a human figure. One girl adjusts the body, next it goes to one who puts on the legs, the next fits the arms, and so the little figure passes down the line, beginning with nothing and ending in a perfect or complete figure in weed. "We have," continued the little old man, "over two hundred objects which we make entirely from seaweed, which sell at from two bits to five dollars. What is known as ball kelp is a really attractive ball of perfect shape the size of a child's head, mounted on a graceful club. The ball is really a float and is attached to a vine of enormous length, and can only be found after a bad storm which tears it up in deep water. This we make up into all kinds of things, from Indian war clubs to cups and baskets. "A lot of this seaweed is good to eat, if people only knew it. The Japanese and Chinese eat it, but Ameri- cans have no use for it. The only seaweed they will touch is carrageen, which is made into the most deli- cate foods, as blancmange; but there are a lot of sea- weeds just as good. "There are a lot of incidentals in this business," said the weed-collector after a pause. "In the last two years I have found two whales. Finding 's keep- ing with stranded whales. One was sixty feet long; it was run into and killed by a steamer. I saw in the papers that passengers felt the shock, and I knew a dead whale would turn up. Sure enough, I saw it in the kelp several days later, and I got a hawser around 364 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA it and we towed it onto the beach at high tide, and at the ebb it was high and dry. I hired some men, who got it up out of the reach of the water; then I got a tent over it, and made a hundred dollars before it began to get too loud; then I sold the blubber to a man, reserving the skeleton, which I sold to an Eastern museum. So whaling alongshore pays when you know how to go at it. "One year I found a lot of cuttlefish that ran into the surf. I was riding along the beach, and I got a pole and rode into them, and killed about twenty, I guess. Some were eight or ten feet long. I hauled them up and showed them for four or five days in my whale tent; then, after taking out the bills, eyes, and pens, which I sold as curios, I sold them to the fisher- men, who salted them down for bait. Each cuttle had a pen a foot long, a beautiful object, as delicate and fragile as a feather pen. The eyes when hardened look like pearls, and they are mounted as pins. The bills are chestnut-color, and look just like a parrot's bill. "There is another curiosity about a cuttlefish. Each one has a sac of indelible ink; and — would you believe it? — tourists would pay ten cents to have their name written on a handkerchief with the pen and ink of the animal. When I get as far as that I always say, 'No one will believe that story unless you have the pen and ink.' So I would sell the pen for two bits, or fifty cents, and the ink sac for the same; and lots of them bought the eye pins. There 's a lot to know in this business. For instance, most all the fishermen throw away the heads of fishes, especially those of groupers; nobody wants them. But in each TRADES OF THE ISLANDS 365 old head are two beautiful ear stones that look like pearls. They are on the top of the head, each about an inch long and half an inch wide. The fishermen — these Italians and Portuguese — don't know what they are; but the tourists buy them for good-luck stones, and four mount up into a fancy pair of sleeve-buttons. " Sometimes you find things you don't want to, but not often. Once I found a wreck. A lumber schooner came in, but the sea tossed her up so high the men got ashore without wetting their feet. The rarest thing I 've found was a ribbon fish. This one was nearly thirty feet long; but a Mexican had cut it all up before I got there, and about ruined it. He simply ruined a hundred dollars, for I could have got that for it, and more too, in good condition. Did you ever notice," asked the old man, "that in all the sea-serpent stories there is a 'mane'? Well, the fish had a red mane, red fins or plumes (the most beautiful fish I ever saw) about a foot wide, silvery, slashed with bars of black; yet that feller cut off the mane." APPENDIX THE GAME FISHES OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS Their technical names and the tackle and bait used in taking them Leaping Tuna (Thunnus thynnus), 250 pounds. So far taken with rod and reel only at Santa Catalina and San Clemente Islands. Tackle: A rod not under 6 feet in length, or weighing over 16 ounces, 21 or 24- thread line with a dead strain of not less than 42 or 48 pounds. The bait for the leaping tuna is flying- fish. Taken trolling. Large Vom Hofe reel; 600 feet of line. Season: May to October; uncertain. Long-finned Tuna {Thunnus alalonga) (Jordan), 60 pounds. The tackle for this fish is a 9-ounce rod, not less than 6 feet in length, with a 9-thread line having a breaking strength of not over 18 pounds. Bait is sardine, smelt, and sometimes they are taken with a spoon. Trolling or still-fishing. Season: March to December, but varying — sometimes early, some- times late. Yellow-finned Tuna {Thunnus macropterus) (Jordan), 75 pounds. The tackle is a 9-ounce rod, not less than 6 feet long, a 9-thread line with a breaking strength of 18 pounds. Bait for the yellow- finned tuna is sardine, smelt, and it will also take large pieces of albacore. Taken trolling and still-fishing, when school is located. Season: May to October; uncertain. 867 368 APPENDIX Santa Catalina Swordfish (Tetrapturus mitsukurii), 350 pounds. The bait for this swordfish is flying-fish. The rod is a 16- ounce single piece rod, a line of 21 or 24-thread. Large Vom Hofe reel holding 600 feet. Season: June to December. Santa Catalina Dolphin (Coryphema hippurus), 15 pounds. A 6-ounce rod with a 6-thread line, with a breaking strength of not over 12 pounds. The bait, sardine or smelt. Trolling or casting near floating kelp. Season: May to December. White Sea Bass (Cynoscion nobilis), 70 pounds. A 9-ounce rod not less than 6 feet long, o-thread line with a breaking strength of not less than 18 pounds. Bait, a Wilson spoon, sardine, flying-fish, or smelt. Trolling or casting. Live bait most desirable. Sea Trout or Bltjefish (Cynoscion parvipinnis). Six ounce rods. Season: March to December. Oceanic Bonito (Gymnosarda pelamis), 15 pounds. The tackle for this fish is a 6-ounce rod not less than 6 feet long, the line a No. 3 or a No. 6, with a breaking strength of not less than 12 pounds. Bait, a small spoon, sardine, or smelt. Bonito (Sarda ckilensis), 20 pounds. The tackle for the bonito is a 6-ounce rod, 6-thread line, bait same as for the oceanic bonito. Taken trolling. Can be attracted to boat by "chum," then taken by casting. Season: spring and summer. Rock Bass (Paralabrax clathratus), 5 to 16 pounds. There are a large number of species of these fishes affording excellent sport with a rod. Tackle should be a 6-ounce rod, 7 or 8 feet long, more or less, with a No. 3 or No. 6 line. The bait is sardine, smelt, or a spoon. Ordinary black bass or trout APPENDIX 869 tackle is sufficiently large for them, but oiled silk lines cannot be used in salt water. Trolling or casting. Season: all the year. Sheepshead (Trochocopus pulcher), 10 to 15 pounds. A bottom fish feeding on shells, crabs, etc. Tackle a 9-ounce rod, a 9-thread line. Bait for this fish is crayfish, abalone, sardine, or almost any kind of bait. It is found in shallow water, and the bait should be lowered to the bottom, or near it. Season: all the year, best from May to December. Whitefish (CaidolatHus princeps), 12 pounds. This fish is found in water 20 to 30 feet deep, but can be "baited" to the surface, and is one of the finest game fishes in California waters. Tackle, a 9-ounce or a 6-ounce rod, with a 9-thread or 6-thread line, the lighter preferred. Bait, sardines smelt, abalone, or crayfish. Still-fishing; — in a tideway, if possible. Season: all the year, but best in the summer and fall. Blue-eyed Perch (Girella nigricans), 3 or 4 pounds. Tackle, 6-ounce rod, or better, an ordinary trout rod, 3 or 9- thread line, with a very small hook and crayfish or abalone bait. Found in medium depths and can be baited or "chummed" to the surface. Season: all the year. Medialuna (Medialuna calif orniensis), 2 to 4 pounds. A very game little fish of medium depths, which can be baited to the surface. Tackle, 4 or 6-ounce rod, No. 3 or 6 line, cray- fish or abalone bait. Season: all the year. Opha (Lampris guttata). This is the most beautiful fish in the world, and one specimen has been taken with rod and reel between Santa Catalina and San Clemente. Tackle, 9-ounce rod, 9-thread line. Sardine or smelt bait. Very rare; probably not over fifty fishes of this kind have been reported. Attains a weight of 50 to 75 pounds. 370 APPENDIX Black Sea Bass (Stereolepis gigas), 300 or 400 pounds. This fish is found in water 20 to 40 or 50 feet deep. Tackle, 16-ounce rod, not less than 6 feet in length, 21 or 24-strand line, No. 10 hook. Bait, a piece of albacore weighing 5 or 6 pounds, or a live whitefish which is allowed to descend near the bottom. Small specimens of these fishes have been taken by trolling with a whitefish, with the bait near the bottom. Season: April to December. Barracuda (Sphyrena argentia), 10 to 15 pounds. This is a surface fish running in schools and can be taken with a o-ounce rod, 9-thread line, and a spoon, sardine, or smelt bait. Trolling. Season: spring and summer. Halibut {Paralichihys maculosus). This is a bottom fish, attaining a weight of 50 pounds, and very game. Taken with a o-ounce rod, No. 9 fine, sardine bait. Found in medium depths off sandy beaches. Roncador (R. stearnsii).. A number of interesting fishes are included under this head, also called surf fishes, running up to 5 or 6 pounds. Taken on the bottom, with clam, crab, or crayfish bait. Sharks. Several kinds of sharks are taken here. For the largest, 16- ounce rod 21 or 24- thread line, fish bait of any kind. The smaller oil shark (Galleorhinus galens) can be taken in Santa Catalina Harbor with a 9-ounce rod, 9-thread line. This shark leaps, and affords excellent sport. Fish bait of any kind. Hammerhead shark and bonito shark (Isuropsis glauca) are the common catches with rod and reel. Yellowtail (Seriola dorsalis). Sixty pounds, very game, comparable to the Eastern blue- fish, related to the amber jack of Florida, same genus; comes in schools in March or April, breaks up, and is the game fish APPENDIX 371 of the islands. Taken with 6-ounce or o-ounce rods, 6-thread or o-thread lines. Bait, fresh sardine, smelt, or Wilson spoon, though when hungry the yellowtail will strike at anything, and a large 1 8-inch flying-fish is the best bait for large specimens. Affects waters alongshore, deep or shallow; can be found out at sea under kelp islands when the angler can cast a sardine. The hook, No. 10, should have a short wire leader. Pound for pound the yellowtail is the hardest fighting fish around the islands. Two hundred feet of line is sufficient. Trolling or still-fishing. Season: April to December 15, changing year by year. TACKLE The rods referred to above are made of split bamboo, noibe wood, a species of South American greenheart, American green- heart, ironwood. The author prefers split bamboo, all things considered, but uses greenheart and noibe wood. The speci- fications of the Tuna Club are now followed by many makers, and such rods are for sale at Avalon by the various dealers. The rods are all single sticks, that is, the tip is long, not jointed, the butt being short, intended to fit into the belt socket of leather, shown in the illustration, or in the heavy rods, into the seat socket. The angler can, of course, use any kind of a rod, but to have a chance for prizes in the tournaments, they must be of a cer- tain size as given. REELS The reel is a most important feature in sea-angling. A poor reel is impossible, as after a long play it will "bind," or "go to pieces." There are a number of reels in use, but I think it is no disparagement to other makers to say that the sea-fishing reels of Edwin Vom Hofe are mostly used here, for the reason that they have stood the test of tuna fishing for twenty-five years. Three sizes are used, one for small fishes, one for yel- lowtails, and fishes up to 60 or 100 pounds, and another hold- ing 600 feet of No. 21 thread line for the leaping tuna and the Santa Catalina swordfish. These and other reels cost from $5 to $75, and are shown in plates facing pages 58 and 59. The rod is important, but the reel is still more so, as it must, 372 APPENDIX in taking a large fish, stand a heavy strain; and a poor reel or a cheap reel, will often go to pieces like the one-horse shay. There are a number of dealers in New York and other places who make good reels, which are kept in stock by Mr. A. A. Carraher and Mr. William Hunt, who have large outfitting houses at Avalon, Santa Catalina Island. Their advice can be depended upon, as they are themselves practical anglers. Vom Hofe, Abby, and Imbrey, Chubb, Roy Shaver, Murphy, and various other makers, build rods and reels for the peculiar sea- angling of the Channel Islands. CLUB MEMBERS The Tuna Club has members in almost every American, and a number of large European cities, and if the would-be angler, living in the East or Europe, will address a line to the Secretary of the Tuna Club, Avalon, California, he will be given the address, in many instances, of a club member in his own city, who will, with the camaraderie of anglers, give any information he can. BOATMEN All the boatmen at the islands have tackle, and this is included in the price of the trip; the understanding being that if the angler uses the often light and often expensive tackle, he must pay for it if it is broken. Every angler should own his sea- angling tackle, three or four reels, three or four rods, a trunk for hooks, lines, etc., as this feature is, beyond question, half the sport. HOW TO REACH THE CHANNEL ISLANDS If the angler is on the Continent, he can obtain full particu- lars of the best modes of travel by addressing Mr. Rudolph Falck, at any of the following offices, where may be obtained the publications of the Tuna Club and its branches: London, England, 22 Cockspur street, 49 Leadenhall street; Liverpool, England, 25 Water street; Paris, France, 39 Rue St. Augus- tine; Genoa, Italy, 117 Via Balbi; Hamburg, Germany, 23 Ferdinandstrasse; Antwerp, Belgium, n Rue Chapelle de Grace; Bordeaux, France, 46 Quai des Chartreuse. APPENDIX 373 From New York theTe are several lines of steamers to New Orleans (Southern Pacific) or Galveston, making (in the expe- rience of the author) a pleasant diversion. At New Orleans, the Sunset Route can be taken through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to Los Angeles, a city of 350,000 inhabitants, from which the steamers of the Wilmington Transportation Com- pany can be taken daily to Santa Catalina Island. The port of Los Angeles is reached in half an hour by the Pacific Elec- tric Line, the Salt Lake Railroad, the Southern Pacific Railroad, or the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, or it is a pleasant motor car trip. From New York or Chicago, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad takes one across the continent to Los Angeles, now a great railroad centre. If the angler is in Montreal, or desires the northern trip, he can take the Canadian Pacific, the Northern Pacific, or the Union Pacific Railroads, pass through Washington and Oregon, and come down the coast to Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, or San Diego, each being off a distinct group of the islands. CLIMATE AND ATTIRE There is generally something to be caught around the Chan- nel Islands at any time, but like all other places they have a fishing season, and the best fishing is from May to January, changing with the seasons. If the winter is very mild the yellowtails do not all leave; I have caught them from the Avalon wharf every week in the winter. In the matter of attire, anglers or visitors to Southern Cali- fornia should dress, season for season, as they do in New York. The flowers bloom all winter in Southern California, but the country is not in the tropics; it is cool and bracing, and you need Eastern winter attire in winter, and Eastern summer attire in summer. The man or woman who expects to wear white flannels or muslin in Southern California in winter, or from December to April, will suffer, even if the roses and heliotrope are in full bloom out of doors. The winters are delightful, but the summers at the islands are practically per- fect. There is no rain between May and November, no storms, 374 APPENDIX and the days and nights are almost invariably cooler than at any seaside resort on the Atlantic Coast between Nova Scotia and Florida. A few hot days come now and then, as this is not a real Paradise, but taking the summer as a whole, from Santa Barbara to Coronado alongshore, I do not believe its equal for absolute comfort can be found anywhere. I am speaking now of the average, and after an experience of twenty-five years. The nights are invariably cool, and from one to two blankets are needed, and this applies to Los Angeles and Pasa- dena and the country from twenty to thirty miles from the coast. No especial costume for fishing can be advised, as the launches are neat and clean, and the angler, man or woman, does not of necessity come in contact with the fish. For a man, a soft light hat, a soft-collared shirt, silk or flannel, and a sweater; comfortable shoes (rubber-soled tennis shoes are admirable), a silk handkerchief for the neck, perhaps, — as even the Chan- nel Islands sun will burn, — then a philosophical frame of mind, a disposition to take things as they come, a good com- panion, a good brand of cigars, or a pipe, and — the yellow- tails will do the rest. ACCOMMODATIONS Los Angeles, a city of 350,000 inhabitants, has many large and beautiful hotels, and this city is the natural point of depart- ure for a trip to the islands. Avalon, the town of Santa Cata- lina Island, has a summer population of eight or nine thousand; one ocean steamer a day in winter, three or four in summer. It has one large hotel, the Metropole, and numbers of small ones; or cottages can be rented, or tents, there being a remark- able series of canvas houses, or tents, beneath groves of euca- lyptus trees. For definite information regarding the sailing of Santa Catalina steamers, the visiting angler should address The Wilmington Transportation Company, Pacific Electric Build- ing, Los Angeles, California. Some seasons, the tunas, or other fishes, come very early or late, and data regarding the existing conditions of the fishing may be had by addressing the Tuna Club, Avalon, or its corre- APPENDIX 375 sponding secretary, C. V. Barton, San Fernando Building, Los Angeles, Cal., or its secretary, L. P. Streeter, Pasadena. The Tuna Club has affiliations with a number of Eastern and English clubs, which consist of an agreement to facilitate the sport of visiting anglers while on the Pacific Coast, and the angler, who has the entree to the Club at Avalon, will have every courtesy shown him in a hearty spirit of good-fellowship. U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE — WEATHER BUREAU COOPERATIVE OBSERVERS' METEOROLOGICAL RECORD Tuna Club, Avalon, Catalina Island, Cal., 1909-1910 MONTHLY SUMMARY Decem- ber Date January Date Febru- ary Date Temperature: Mean Maximum Mean Minimum Mean Maximum M inimum Greatest Daily Range . Least Daily Range . . . Mean Range Precipitation: Total in Inches Greatest in 24 Hours in Inches Character of Days : With 0.01 Inches or more Precipitation . Clear Partly Cloudy Cloudy Barometer at 5 p. m. Maximum Minimum Mean 60.5 48.2 54-3 67 41 I7-S 3S 12.2 6.71 1.96 9 14 7 10 12th 15th 4th nth 12th 9th 5th 60.3 46.2 53-2 73 39 21.5 8-5 14. 1 1. 12 0.61 6 14 10 7 2ISt 6th 27th 15th 2d 60.9 47-4 54- IS 70 41 19 6-5 13.6 0.09 0.09 30.24 29.88 30.08 25th 2d 5th 14th 20th 3d 1st 28th Total Seasonal Precipitation (from Oct. ±, 1909), 8.94 Inches 376 APPENDIX The remarkable nature of the island climate is shown by the following extremes taken in 1905 at Avalon, Santa Catalina. The temperatures were taken under a piazza, facing the channel: Wannest Day Coldest Day 72° si" 66° 6o° 70° 6i° 73° 63° 76° 6S° 74° 64° 8i° 67° 73° 58° 64° 6i° March . . . April May .... June .... July August . . September October. . November INDEX INDEX Abalones, 6, 29, 126, 187, 206, 293, 33S,3S3-3S9,36i. Aborigines on Channel Islands, see Inhabitants, original. Abronia, 155. Acoma on early Spanish map, 13. Adams, Wm. P., 334. Adargo, Joe, 359, 361. Adenostoma, 232, 241. Aflalo, F. G, 73, 74, 78. Alamo, Santa Cruz, 273. Albacore, 68,69,75,84,87,88,91-94, 99, 100, 120, 179, 181, 183, 184/ 220, 221, 352. Albacore, Japanese, 289. Albatross, black-footed, 163, 165, 249. Albatross, short-tailed, 165. Aleutian Islands, 8. Alonzo, Don, 133, 134, 142. Alopias, see Thresher, long-tailed. Amber fish, 335, 339. Amberjack, 335. American method of taking abalone shells, 356. American Museum of Natural His- tory, 8, 250. Amphiroa, see Moss, coral. Anacapa Island (or the Anacapas), 2, 4, 12, 22, 23, 69, i2i, 165, 182, 185-190, 271, 272. Angel-fish, 307. "Anian, Straits of," 9. Ant-lion, 226. Aphanisma, 154. Aphanisma blitoides, 155. Aplysia, see Sea hare. Aquarium, Avalon, 46, 124, 128, 129. Aransas Pass Tarpon Club, 75. Aransas, Texas, 75, 109, 199. Arctostaphylos diversifolia, see Man- zanita. Argonaut, see nautilus, paper. Arizona, Indian towns of, 15, 204. Ascension, Antonio de la, at Santa Cruz Island, 273. Asphaltum, 292. Astragalus robeartsii, Eastwood, see Rattleweed. Astralagus Trashm, 246. Asuncion Island, 257. Atlantic Coast, tuna on, 54, 55, 69, 179, 183. Atriplex breweri, 155. Auklet, Cassin's, 163, 249, 300. Austin, Mrs. C. P., 298. Avalon, and Avalon Bay, Santa Cat- alina, 2, 3, n, 15-18, 27, 29, 38, 39, 42-5°, i°9, 128, 165, 193-195, 200, 243, 254, 260, 295, 300, 304, 3°5, 308, 325, 330, 335, 339, 34o, 344, 347, 349, 359- Baccharis species on San Clemente, 153- Bahia Ona Bay, 21. Baird, R. C, 99, in. Bait, 104, 121, 221,326,327,340,344. Baker, Mr., Avalon, 46. Baker, Prof, and Mrs. C. F., 155. Baloenopiera veliferra, see Whale, fin- back. Bald eagle, 157, 160, 177, 249, 300, 351- Bandini, Don Arturo, 83. Banning Company,38,46, 85, 87, 129. Banning Cup, 87. Banning, Hancock, 42, 78, 83, 235. 379 380 INDEX Banning, Joseph B., 78. Banning, Mt., Santa Catalina, 40. Banning, Captain William, 78, 83, 112, 185. "Banyan," Avalon arroyo, 153, 239. Barracuda, 120, 125. Barracuda, Florida, 125. Barrett, Gen. A. W., 70, 84. Barrett, Mrs. A. W., 71, no. Barron, S. A., 94, 334. Barton, C. V., 98. Basque natives, 250. Bass, banded, 290. Bass, black sea, 79, 84, 99, 100, 102- iii, 144, 145, 205, 288, 310, 326. Bass, fresh water black, 121. Bass, Macdonald's white sea, 325. Bass, rock, 121, 122, 124, 125, 145, 205. Bass, striped, 213. Bass, white sea, 79, 84, 87, 89, 91-94, 99, 100, 127, 144, 310, 324-334, 352- Bats, 193. Beaman, Judge, 70. Bean, Dr. Tarleton H., 81. Becher Bay, Santa Rosa, 288. Bee, new species, 199. Beebe, A. L., 75, 94, 99, 102-109, 211, 333. 334, 339- Begg's Rock, 1, 248, 301. Ben Johnson's Beach, Santa Cata- lina, 41. Bering Strait, 9. Belter Than Nothing, Schooner, 314. Bickmore, Prof. A. S., 8. Big Ben, Sea-lion in Avalon Bay, 46, .193,347-349- Big Cottonwood Canon, Santa Cat- alina, 176. Bighead, 131. Bird Island,'near Santa Catalina, 301. Bird Migration, 164, 188, 249, 301. Birds, 156-166, 188, 237, 238, 249, 300, 301, 323, 351. Bishop's Rock, 207, 209. Black Current of Japan. 6, 289, 291; see Kuro Shiwo. Black Jack, Mt. Santa Catalina, 28, 40, 116, 176, 236. Blacksmith, 121. Blanquillo (whitefish), 122, 123, 125. Blister pearls, see Pearls, abalone blister. Blue button Tuna Club, 67, 68, 70, 82, 84, 86, 87, 213. Bluensh, Eastern, 126, 336, 338, 342. Boars, wild, and boar-hunting, 275- 281. Boat towed by fish, 59, 6i, 70, 71, 105-107, 180, 200, 219, 331. Boatmen, professional, 45, 56, 82, 88, 89, 93, 94, 98, 99, 102, 145, 232, 337, 34o, 342, 344, 359- Boggs, Edward M., 334. Bonito, 87, 120, 126, 144, 182, 183, 185, 220, 221, 271, 345, 352. Bonito, oceanic, 126, 144, 288. Bowerman, C. C, 66. Bradford, L. T., 67. Brandegee, T. J., 154, 238. Brassica Nigra, see Mustard. Brea ranch, near Santa Monica, 292. Brewster, Edwin H., 92, 94. Brewster, Mrs. E. H., 334. Bridgeman, , 240. British Sea Anglers' Society of Lon- don, 73. Britton, J. R., 235, 301. Brock & Feagans, Los Angeles, 87, 91 . Brock & Feagans Medal, 87, 93. Brode, A. C, 66, 99. Broiiasa, 234. Bronze button tournament and win- ners, 00, 94-96. Brown, Charles (also called Carl Ditman), 315-317, 318. Buckthorn, pear-leaved, 154, 155. Buckwheat, wild, 154. Burdette, Mr. and Mrs. Robert, 235. Burnham, Major Frederick R., 53, 229, 325- Burnham Lake, 229. Burnham, Captain Wm. H., 185, 250, 260, 267. Burns Cup, 92. INDEX 381 Burns, Col. Dan M., 85, 92, 93. Burns Tuna Cup, 85, 100. Butler, W. H., 223. "Cabrillo Island" (Prince Island), 297. Cabrillo, Don Juan Rodriguez, dis- coverer of Channel Islands, 8-12, 15-17, 19, 25, 28, 32, 36, 39, 147, 204, 227, 242, 248, 260, 273, 295- 297. 323- Cabrillo, Don Juan Rodriguez, log of, 9, 11, 12, 19-26. Cabrillo, Santa Catalina, 28, 29, 39, 42, 43, "8, 239, 256, 301, 350, 355, 359- Cabrillo Mountains, Santa Catalina, 39, 40, 42, 116, 121, 178, 237. Caire, Justinian, 48, 260, 262, 265. Cajon Pass country, action of wind in, 252. Caldwell Point, San Miguel, 296. California — fogs of, 5; climate of, 5, 6; thun- derstorms rare in, 6; no statue of Cabrillo in, 9, 296; first use of name of, 10; supposed to be an island, 10; losses incident to discovery of , n; Mission Fathers and Indians in, 11,13, 16, 274, 282; old maps of, 12, 13; and Southwest, history of (1538-1626), 13 14; Cabrillo dis- coverer of, 15, 296; Vizcaino's voyage to, 17; Cermenonon coast of, 17; famous for coaching, 112; little big game fishing on southern beaches of, 14s; meadow lark of, 160; towhee familiar bird in, 161; bird migrations in, 164, 165; ducks on coast of, 166; turtles on coast of, 198; Torrey pines in, 240, 241; "snow" of (orange petals), 241; Spanish and Russian occupation of, 274, 282; white sea bass fishing along coast of, 325. California, Gulf of, 10, 13, 68, 105, 109, no, 179, 197, 229, 257, 290, 3 2 4, 345- Calochortus, see Mariposa lily. Campbell, W. Greer, 67. Can Rock, 301. Capri, grotto of, 266. Carrageen, 363. Carraher, A. A., 84, 346. Carrillo, Don Carlos and Don Jos6, 284. Carrington Point, Santa Rosa, 287, 288. Cass, A. B., 84, 100, 184. Castellere, Andres, 265. Castle Rock, 301. Catalina Harbor, 39-41, 201, 242, 243, 256, 257, 295, 345. Catalina Novelty Company, 88, 92, 93, 94- "Cathalina, I. S." (Santa Catalina), 12. Cats, wild, 192, 193, 301. Caulolatihis, 123. Caves, 43, 141, 150-152, 169, 170, 173, 187, 247, 266-269, 273, 294, 301. Ceanothus arboreus, see Lilac, laven- der. Ceanothus cuneaius, see Lilac, white. Ceanothus thyrsiflorus, see Lilac, wild, of California. Cercocarpus pomfoleses, see Moun- tain mahogany. Cercocarpus traskia, see Mountain , Mahogany, Trask's. Cereus Emoryi, see Snake cactus. Cermenon, sailed to discover on Cal- ifornia coast, 1595, 17. Cerros Island, 10, 257. Cesafia, Mr., 69. Chalk Cliff Canon, San Clemente, 153- Channel Islands — location of, 1; formation of, 1, 12, 272; harbors of, 1; number of, 2, 299; height of peaks on, 2; owner- ship of, 2; climateof , 2-7, 231, 233; rainfall and "rainy season" at, 4, 233; discovery of, 6, 8, 10, n, 248; original inhabitants of, 6, 13, 14, 382 INDEX 16, 17, 27-35, 2 98 (see Cabrillo's log); animal life abundant at, 6; Japanese Gulf Stream bathes, 6; ac- count of, in Cabrillo's log, 12, 19- 26; old maps of, 12, 13; Zalmeron's account of, 14; visited by adven- turers, 15-17; antiquities found on, 27-32; trip to, from Los Angeles, 36, 37; metals on, 48; fishing at, see Fishing; botany and plant life of, 154, 231-233, 238, 241; birds of, 165-167, 286; hunting on, 168- ^S, 275; fogs on, 175; their rela- tion to mainland, 191, 272; fauna of, 191; free from noxious insects, 198; few sharks at, 199; mountain- climbing and exploring on, 232; "snow" of (greasewood blossoms), 241; sea-lion rookeries of, 256; canons of, 270; geological history of, 272; romance and tragedy of, 282-284; animal life at maximum at, 290; "characters" resident on, 297; glass-bottomed boats intro- duced at, 303. Channing, Dr. William, 28. Chaparral on islands, 5, 161, 231, 233- Chappelle, Captain, 82, 94, 98, 249, 250. Charles of Castile and Aragon,9,io. Charles the Third of Spain, 274. Cherry Valley, Santa Catalina, 48. Cherry, wild, 156, 239. Chicken John, local character on Santa Catalina, 18. Chile cothte, 241. China Point, San Clemente, 151, 161. Chinese abalone-hunters, 187, 2o6, 293, 3S6-3S8. Chinese navigators on Pacific, 8. Chinetti Canon, San Clemente, 140. Chinetti, of San Clemente, 136-140, 142, 147, 148, 157, 193. Chondrus crispus, see Moss, Irish. Choya cactus, 134, 156, 206, 233. "Chumming," 120, 122, 126, 182. Church Island, 301. Church Rock, Santa Catalina, 41, 194, 34i- Ciari Island, 325. Cibola on early Spanish map, 13; at time of Coronado's expedition, 14, 204. Cleveland, Grover, 74, 78, 81. Clover, Captain A. S., 82, 145. Cnicus occidenlalis, 155. Coach road, Santa Catalina, 28, 43, 1 1 2-1 19. Coaching, 112. Coates, Dr. B. O., 67. Cochise Valley, Arizona, 230. "Cod, boneless," no. Codium tomentosum, see Moss, che- nille. Colorado River, 22. Colpomenia sinuosa, see Puff ball. Comfort, yacht, 83, 201, 202. Compredore, steam yacht, 83. Concepcion, Point, 12, 24, 123, 167, 243, 271, 272, 295. Cone, the, near San Clemente, 301. Conn, C. G., 66-68, 75, 83, 87, 99, 100, no, 200-203, 324, 338, 345- Conn Cup, 87. Conn Medal, 87. Cooper, , 301. Coral Harbor, San Nicolas, 247, 249, 251- Coral snake, 194. Corallina, see Moss, coral. Cormorant, Baird's, 300. Cormorant, Brandt's, 162, 163, 249, 300. Cormorant, Farallone, 162, 249, 300. Cormorants, 162, 163, 165, 299, 351. Cornell, Captain George, 145. Cornus polleyii, see Dogwood, Santa Catalina. Coronado Beach, 19, 145, 174, 204, 205. Coronado, Francisco Vasquez, 14, 15, 20, 21, 204. Coronado Islands (Los Coronados), 4, 19, no, 165, 174, 204-210, 299. Coronado Rocks, 13. INDEX 383 Cortez, 10, 206. Cortez Island (Coronado Islands), 205. Cortez, Mt., San Clemente, 146, 147. Cortez, Sea of, 10, 179, 229, 324. Cortez, Shoal of (or Cortez Bank), 1, 4, 12, 148, 206-210. Costanso, Don Miguel, description of natives of Channel Islands quoted, 33-35. Cotton, Mrs. H. H., 223. Cottonwood trees, 239, 240. Covarrubias, Nicholas, Sr., 38. Cow-fish, 291. Coxe, J. A., 66, 87. Coxe Prize, 87. Crab, giant spider, 291. Crab, hermit, 291. Crab, kelp, 291. Crabs, 291, 309. Crandall, Mr., 344. Crawfish, 306. Cricket, yacht, 83. Crossosoma Californicum, 239. Crow Point, Tyler Bight, San Mi- guel, 297. Cueva, Cafion del, San Clemente, 169. Curios, manufacture of, 206, 353, 357-365- Curlew, 166. Cuttlefish, 364. Cuyler's Harbor, San Miguel, 24, 295-297. Cynoscion nobile, see Bass, white sea. Cypselurus californicus, see Flying- fish. Cystoseira, see Sea oak. Daisy, lava, 155. Daisy, tree {Encelia California), 153. Dana at Channel Islands, 36. Dana [James D.], 148. Danielson, Captain O. I., 82. Dasya subsecunda, see Moss, lace. Deadman's Island, 296. Deal fish, 308. Deer, black-tailed, 350. Del Mar, Torrey pines at, 240. Delphinus, see Dolphin. Dendromecon stylophyllum, see Poppy, tree. Dennison, Mr., of Philadelphia, 62-65. Descanso Cafion, Santa Catalina, 42, 113- Desert, fascination of, 245, 320. "Desert, The," Van Dyke, 320. Devil fish, 290. Dewy, Fitch, 77. Diablo, Canon, Santa Cruz, 192. Diablo, Point, Santa Cruz, 265, 266, 267. Dialects spoken by original in- habitants, 30, 31. Dickerson, Mrs. E. L., 70, 71, 84. Dictyota dichotoma, see Worm grass. Ditman, Carl, see Brown, Charles. Divers, 303, 305, 352, 359. Dogs, mummies of, 191. Dogs, wild, 192. Dogwood, Santa Catalina, 238. Dolphin, 75, 126, 198, 291. Doran, E. L., 77, 250. Doss, Captain Harry, 65, 82. "Double-ender" (boat), 353. Drake possibly visited islands, 15. Ducks, 164-166. Dusty miller, 239. Dyas-Cline Company, 88, 89, 92, 93. Eagle, bald, see Bald. Eagle Nest Ranch, Santa Catalina, 116, 117. Eagle Ranch, San Clemente, 134, 135- Eagle's Nest, Santa Catalina, 28. Ear-shell (abalone), 353. "Ear stones," 360, 365. Earle, C. H., in. Eariscliffe, H. St. A., 223. Earlscliffe Tuna Cup, 100. Earth, age of, 9. East Point, Santa Rosa, 287. Echnocystis fabacca, see Chile cothte. Ectocarpus, see Moss, fur. INDEX Eddy, Arthur J., 66, 84, 85, 88, 89, 9i> 22 3> 334- Eddy Cup, 85, 88, 93, 99. Eel grass, 312. Egregia langala, see Kelp, feather boa. Egret, American, 166. Elder, blue-berried, 154. "Electric fishes" (scarlet Gari- baldis), 307. Electrical storms, 6. Elephant (Elephas americanus) tooth found on Santa Rosa, 191, 289, 293. Elephant-shooting, 53. Elliott, Eugene, 67. Ellis, C. E., 99, 346. Ellis, Prof., 154. Elms, Harry, 201. Empidonax insulicola, see Fly- catcher. Empire Landing, Santa Catalina, 28, 32, 4g. Encelia California, see Daisy, tree. Engelmann, , 240. Ensenada, harbor of, 13, 334. Enteronwrpha, see Sea grass. Epstein, Max, 223. Eriogonum giganteum, 239. EriophyUum nevinii, 154, 155. Erlophyllum nervinii, see Dusty miller. Esckschollzia ramosa, see Poppy. Eskimos, 8, 9. Eucalyptus trees on islands, 4, 44, 15°. Eumetopias stetteri, see Sea-lion, Steller's. Euphorbia misera, 153. European objects found in ancient burial-places, 16. Everman, Dr. Barton Warren, 81. Eyes of fishes, 120, 124, 360. Fallon, Ernest, 100, 184. Fan, brown (sea weed), 312. Farnsworth, Captain Geo., 82, 200, 202, 203. Fealbo, G. W., 95. "Fence," back of Avalon, 109. Ferrelo, Bartolome, 11, 40, 247. Ferrelo, Mt., Santa Catalina, 40. Ferrelo's Bay, San Clemente, 147. Ferrelo's Point, San Nicolas, 247. Finch, house, 159, 162, 249, 300. Firmin, Point, 40. Fisher, Captain C. A., 82, 98. Fisherman's Harbor, Santa Cata- lina, 43. Fishing, 6, 44-46, 50-81, 97, 98, ioo-iii, 120-132, 143-146, 179- 184, 199-205, 211-222, 248, 270- 273, 288-290, 324-346, 351, 352. Fleas, 198, 251. Flier, 128. Flint, Sen. Frank P., 78, 143, 172. Florida, sport in, 51, 200; shark at reef, 199; action of sand in, 227, 251; wild hogs of, 275; study of marine forms at Reef, 303; sea- urchin of, 306; angel-fish of, 307; amberjack of, 235. Flounder, 127. Flycatcher, 159. Flying-fish, 37, 56, 69, 127, 327, 340, 344, 3°°- Fogs, of San Miguel, 4; of Cali- fornia coast, 5; of San Clemente, 174; of Santa Cruz, 175, 265; of Santa Catalina, 175; of Channel Islands, 175; wooded hills due to, 240; of San Nicolas, 243. Ford, Ernest E., 70, 84. Forney's Cove, Santa Cruz, 273. Fossils, on Santa Rosa, 293; on Santa Catalina, 293, 294; see also Elephant tooth found on Santa Rosa. Four o'clock plant, 155. Fox, San Clemente, 138, 162, 192, 103- Fox, Santa Rosa, 281, 288. Foxes, tailless, 192, 193. Francis, John F., Medal, 85, 88, 89. Franciscans in California, 274, 282. Franseria, 155. INDEX 385 Fraser's, Santa Cruz, 273. Frickman, Gustave J., 100, 184. "Frog" fish, 128. Fuca, Juan de, 204. Fucus harveyanus, see Rockweed green. Fungi, 155. Gallagher of San Clemente, 157, 225, 297. "Game hogs," 77, 100. Gardner, Jim, boatman, 62-66, 82. Garibaldi, scarlet, 127, 307. Gates, , 188. Gaylord, Horace, 300. Geese, 165. Gelidium, see Rockweed, green. Gelidium, see Worm grass. Geographers, sixteenth-century, 12. Germany, curios manufactured in, 206, 353. Gerrish, F. S., 84, 346. Gerrlionotits, see Lizard, alligator. Ghostfish, 290. Gigartina, see Kelp, thorny. Gilia nevinii, see Turquoise flower. Gillies, Donald B., 91, 93. Glass-bottomed boats, Avalon Bay, 45; 46, 165, 303-312, 3S9, 360. Goats, wild, 152, 168-178, 192. Gold button tournament and winners, 90, 93, 97, 223. Gonzales, Padre, of Mission of Santa Barbara, 315. Goodwin, A. K., 98. Goodyear, , 271. Gopher, 192. Gopher snake, 194. Grand Canon of the Colorado, dis- covery of, 15. Grand Cafion, Santa Catalina, 113, 158. Gray, Captain Tad, 82, 94, 102, 342. Greasewood, 241. Greek theatre, Santa Catalina, 44, 46. Greeley, George, 113, 114. Green, Mr., 69. Grinnell, Prof. Joseph, 157-162, 192, 249. Groundsel, 154. Groupers, see Rock-fish. Guadalupe Island, 240, 257. Guano on rocks, 162. Guillemot, pigeon, 163, 300. Gulf weed, 312. Gull, California, 163. Gull, Heermann's,, 163. Gull Island, 272, 273. Gull, Western, 163, 249. Gulls, 163, 165, 300, 301, 351. Guy, S. A., 99, 100, 184. Guzman, Nufio de, 10. Haight, G. W., 203. Halieetus leucocephalus, see Bald eagle. Halibut, 127. Halidrys osmundacea, see Sea oak. Halimeda tuna, see Moss, cactus. Haliotis, see Abalones. Haliseris, see Sea endive. Hallock, Charles, 74, 77, 81. Harding Bonito Cup, 86, 100. Harding, C. H., 84, 86, 333, 334. Harding, F. L., 86. Harding White Sea Bass Medal, 86, 100, 333. Harris Point, San Miguel, 295. Hatfield, C. W., 223. Hawks, 166. Hemizonia, 155. Heron, great blue, 163, 164, 249. Heron, snowy, 166. "Herrings, king of the" (opah), legend of, 290. Hess, Dr., 154, 155. Heteromeles berries, 3, 177, 231, 234, 238. Hitt, A. B., 67. Hoegee, W. H., Company, 88, 89, 92, 93. Hogs, wild, 288; see also Pigs, wild. Holder, C. F., experience with thunderstorm, 6; opinion as to discovery of islands, 8; search for 386 INDEX antiquities, 16, 17, 27-29, 32, 152, i7S. 24S. 246, 248, 269, 283, 321, 322; first visit to islands, 18, 27, 38, 44, 50, si, 76, 77, 153, 313, 33S, 336; opinion as to dialects of natives, 30; place names given by, 40, 147, 229, 247, 297; fishing experiences of, 50-65, 69, 70, 75- 77, 84, 104, 109, no, 121, 143, 200, 211, 212, 220, 222, 326-331, 337- 339; books by, 74; president and founder of Tuna Club, 76-80; at Honest Anglers' Convention, 81; trophy given by, 85, 99; experiences on horseback, 13s; with Chinetti, 138-140; at Camp Pinchot, 164; wild goat hunting, 168-176; experiences with ocean currents, etc., 208, 209; on sand- dunes of islands, Florida, and Yaqui delta, 225-227, 251; at San Nicolas, 242-247, 252, 313, 319-322; at Santa Cruz, 260, 265-273; theory of disappearance of natives, 298; used glass-bot- tomed box in Florida, 303; intro- duced glass-bottomed boat, 303; proposed to purchase Santa Cata- li na , 336> observed Japanese abalone-hunters, 353; visited Chinese smugglers' camp, 356, 357- Holder Swordfish Cup, 85, 99. Holicitus cataliniensis, 199. "Holly" (Heteromeles), 231, 234, 238. Holmes, Dr., 154. "Honest Anglers" convention, 80, 81. Hooper, A. W., 67, 99. Horehound, 154. Horn, Cape, San Clemente, 134. Hosackia, 246. Howe, Dr., 143. Howland, Charles, 133, 142, 146, 160, 169, 233. Howland's, San Clemente, 123, 133, 14s, 146, 157, 168, 192, 224, 225. Howland's, Santa Catalina, 28, 118, 121. Hueneme Light, 186. Humboldt, quoted, 17. Humming-bird, Allen's, 158, 159. Humming-bird, Costa's, 158, isg. Humming-birds, 158, 159, 164, 238. Hunt, Wm. M., Jr., 66, 92, 93. Ice plant, 160, 239, 246, 301, 323. Indian-head fish, 309. Indians of Channel Islands, see Inhabitants, original. Indians of Pacific Coast, 8, 282, 313. Ingram, Stewart, 100, 184. Inhabitants, original, 6, 13, 14, 17, 19-35, 116-119, 136, 141, 152, 175, 188, 245, 246, 248-250, 269, 273, 286, 287, 289, 294, 297, 298, 313, 3i4, 317, 318, 321, 322. Insects, 198, 199. Ironwood trees, 156, 173, 177, 234, 236, 237, 293. Isabu, Japanese god of fishermen, 213. Island Pharmacy Co., Prize, 94. Islay, island, 154. Isthmus, Santa Catalina, 28, 40, 42, 43, 48, 118, 294, 332, 341. Italian tuna fisheries, 68, 212, 213. Jaeger, parasitic, 165. Japanese abalone-hunters, 187, 206, 353-356, 358, 359. Japanese Gulf Stream, 6. Japanese navigators on Pacific, 8. Jefferson, Joseph, 78. Jelly-fish, 180, 197, 307, 308. Jelly weed, 312. Jesuits in Lower California, 274. Johnson, Captain, 82. Johnson's Lee, Santa Rosa, 288. Jones, J. P., 284. Jones, W. E., 67. Jordan, David Starr, 74, 78, 81, 128, 130, 211. Judah, E. G., 66. INDEX 387 Kelp, 41, 104, 106, 109, 147, 205, 243, 247, 248, 272, 287, 291, 304, 306. 332, 3<" _ 3<>3- Kelp balls, giant, 312, 363. Kelp crab, see Crab, kelp. Kelp, feather boa, 312. Kelp fish, 127-129, 309-311. Kelp, iodine, 312. Kelp, thorny, 312. Kendall, B. O., 67. Kendall, H. T., 84, in. Kerguelen Land, 257. Kingfisher, belted, 158, 166. "Kinkapar," native name of San Clemente, 16. Kirkpatrick, Dr. J. L., 66. Kirkpatrick, Ross, Jr., 66. Kitchen-middens on the islands, 27, 117, 118, 188, 245, 246, 252. Kremer, F. J., 223. Kuro Shiwo, Japanese Gulf Stream, 6, 7, 105, 17s, 190, zi2, 289, 291. Lace, scarlet (sea weed), 312. Laet, John Van., 40 (note). La Jolla, Torrey pine at, 240. Landers, Mr., 77. La Paz, pearl station, 16. Larco, of Santa Barbara, 165, 288, 302. 333- Lark, homed, 300. Lark, streaked horned, 160, 249. Lark, Western meadow, 160, 162, 300. Laterara (Malva rosa), 239. Lauderbach, Miss Frances, 312. Launches, fishermen's, 45, 56, 102, 340, 344. Laurensia, see Jelly weed. Laurocerasus byoni, see Islay, island. Lawson, Dr., 148. Leaf, brown (sea weed), 312. Leatherman, Mrs. F. M., 93. Leptosyne gigantea, 239. Lick, James, and Lick estate, 38, 336. Light Tackle Club, 74, 89, 93, 222, 223, 333, 34°- Lilac, lavender, 154, 235. Lilac, white, 235. Lilac, wild, of Cah'fornia, 235. Little Harbor, Santa Catalina, 28, 41, 48, 117. "Little pig" (albacore), 179. Lizard, alligator, 194. Lizard, brown-shouldered, 194. Lizard, island fence, 194. Lizard, island night, 194. Lizards, 194. Llewellyn, Edward, 84, 100, in. Locke, Seymour, 98. Loma, Point, 146, 174. Long Beach, 198, 290. Long Point, Santa Catalina, 42, 69, 120. Loons, 165, 351. Lophotryx catalincnsis, Grinnell (partridge), 116. Lorenzo, Don, of San Clemente, 146, 192. Los Angeles, 36, 51, 265. Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce exhibit, 238, 250. Los Angeles County, 13, 191. "Lost woman" of San Nicolas, 30, 245, 313-323- Lotus, Trask's (L. Traskite), 153. Lower California, 10, 274. Lupine (£. perennis), 154. Lurline, yacht, 83. Lycium richii, 153. Lyon, William S., 154, 236. Lyonothamnus, see Ironwood. Macdonald, Marshall, 325. McFadden, D. B., 93. Mclntyre, J. W., 100, 184. Mackerel, Spanish (oceanic bonito), 288. Macomber, Dr. H. K., 77. Macrocystis pyrifero, see Kelp, iodine. Macrorhimis leoninus, see Sea ele- phants. McVicker, , see Vail and Mc- Vicker, Messrs. Magdalena Bay, 334. 388 INDEX Mahseer, 52. Maine, sport in, 83. Malcothrix foliosa, see Daisy, lava. Maldonado, Pedro Nunez, 10. Malva rosa, 239. Man-of-war, bird, 165. Manning, T. S., 73, 84, 98, in, 346. Manta, 201. Manzanita, 240. Maps, old Spanish, 10, 12-14. "Marco, I. S.," 13. Marco, ship followed by whale, 196. Maria Juana, Better Than Noth- ing, see "Lost Woman" of San Nicolas. Marine animals other than game fish, 180, 181, 187, 291. "Marine Jimmy," 359. Mariposa lily, 231. Markham, H. H., 77. Martin, Geronimo, 16. Marubium vtdgare, see Horehound, 154- Matthews, William, 99. Mattison, Dr., 75. Mayport, Florida, action of sand at, 227, 251. Maznela, Juan de, 10. Meadow lark, see under Lark. Mediterranean, tunas in, 54, 183, 212-214. Megapiera versabUis, see Whale, Pacific humpback. Mendocino, 40. Mendoza, Don Antonio de, Viceroy of New Spain, 9, 14. Mendoza, Diego Hurtando de, 10. Merriam, , 193. Merritt, Hulett C., 249. Mesembryanthemum, see Ice plant. Meteor Boat Company, 360. Mexican Joe, 27-29, 50, 51, 76, 77, 82, 123, 140, 145, 225, 294, 337, 342, 361. Mexico, rich lands in, 10. Meyst, H., 84, 346. Michaelis, Captain Geo., 82, 94, 123, 145, 19s, 200. Middle Ranch Canon, Santa Cata- lina, 3, 116, 118, 193. Midshipman ("singing fish"), 130- 131- "Mikado's Highway" (Black Cur- rent of Japan), 291. Miller, Chas. W., 100, 184. Mirabilis California, see Four o'clock plant. Mission Fathers, see Padres on California coast. Missions of California, 30, 31, 274, 282, 283, 299. Mocking-bird, 162. Mohave Desert, 136. Monk, Hank, 112. Monterey Bay, 17, 109, 212, 326. Monterey, Caspar de Zuniga Conde de, 16, 17. Montgomery Bros., Los Angeles, 85. 87> 92. 93. 99- Montgomery Cup, 85, 87. Moonstone Beach, 360. Moonstones, 359, 360. Moqui, on early Spanish map, 13. Moqui towns at time of Coronados' expedition, 15. Moray, 131, 309. More, A. P. and H. H., and their estate, 285, 2g2. Morehouse, Col. C. P., 70, 74, 84, 85- Morehouse Tuna Cup, 85, 100. Moriche, Vincente, 45, 184, 344, 360. Mortars, native, 30, 32, 34, 49, 117, 317- Moseley, Dr., 308. Mosquito Canon, San Clemente, 123, 149, 158-160, 164, 171, 193, 270. Mosquito Harbor, San Clemente, 144, i45> 150. 162, 171. Mosquitoes, 171, 198. Moss (cactus, chenille, coral, fur, Irish, lace), 312. Mourning dove, 157, 166, 249, 300. Mountain-climbing, 232. INDEX 389 Mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus pomfoleses), 240. Mountain mahogany, Trask's, 236. Mouse, harvest, 192. Mouse, Santa Catalina white-footed, 192. Mouse, white-footed, 192. Mugu, Point, laguna near, 22. Mullet, 120. Munn, A. T., 67. Murphy, L. G., 66, 67, 84, 109, in, 200, 201, 203. Murray, F. B., 67. Murrelet, Xanthus's, 163. Mustard, 154. Myotis californicus, 193. Myrmdeon, see Ant-lion, Naples Aquarium compared with Avalon Aquarium, 46. National Museum, Indian collec- tion at, 250. Natividad Island, 257. Nautilus, paper, 307, 360. Neal, Captain Percy, 82, 98. Negro, Monte, Santa Rosa, 287. Nerrocystis, see Kelp. Nereocystis lutkeana, see Kelp balls, giant. Nest-building of kelp fish, 128, 129. New Mexico on early Spanish map, 13; Coronado in, 204. Newell, Lloyd B., in. Newport, F. P., 84, 346. "Nicalque," native name for Santa Rosa, 25, 286. Nicotiana, 239. Nidever, Captain, 298, 313, 315, 317-319- Nitophyllum, see Sea endive. Nordlinger Ladies' Cup, 85, 99. Nordlinger & Sons, S., 85, 92, 94. Northwest Harbor, San Clemente, 153- Oak, five-leaved, 238. Oak, island, 240. Oak (Quercus MacDomldii), 239. Oberholser, H. P., 159. Oceanic rivers, 208, 209. Octopus, 306, 307; see Devil fish. Ogburn, W. H., 67. O'Leary, Alec, 145, 159. O'Mara, Philip S., 66, 70, 94, 99. O'Mara, Mrs. Philip S., 67, 98. Opah, 290. Orca aler, see Whale, keller. Orcas, 254, 352- O'Reilly of Mosquito, 297. Orizaba, Mt., Santa Catalina, 40, 116, 176, 178, 235. Osborne Bank, 148, 209, 210. Osprey, American, 157, 249. Otter, 188, 194, 250, 298. Otter-hunters, 30, 206, 250, 298, 315, 3i7- Otter, white, 194. Overland Monthly, quoted, 281, 292, 293- Pacific Coast, climate of, 7. Pacific Ocean, map of, 8; earliest navigators of, g. Padres on California coast, 11, 13, 16, 274, 282, 283, 298, 299, 313, 318, 319. Paez, Cape, San Clemente, 147. Paez, Juan, 11, 147. Painted Cave, Santa Cruz, 266-269. Pala, San Diego County, 235. Palmer, Dr. Edwin O., 66. Palms on islands, 4. Palomo, La, yacht, 83. Panama Canal, opening of, will bring yachts to Pacific, 74, 83. Pandion, see Osprey, American. Pardee, Gov., 172, 226. Parker, Chas. C, taxidermist, Ava- lon, 47, 68. "Parraros, I. de," 13. Parsons, Mr. L., 48. Partridge, 116, 157, 162, 192, 350. Pasadena Academy of Sciences, 249, 300, 301. Pat, Sheepshead in Avalon aqua- rium, 124, 125. INDEX Pearl fisheries, 16. Pearls, 3S3, 3S4, 358. Pearls, abalone blister, 354, 358. Pebble Beach, 109. Pebble Beach Canon, Santa Cata- lina, 44. Pelican, brown, 163, 165, 186, 249, 300. Pelican, white, 165, 166. Pelvetia fastigzata, see Rockweed, yellow. Perch, blue-eyed, 120, 121, 311. Perch, Christmas, 290. Perch, surf, 290. Peridinium, 180, 181. Perkins, C. C, 203. Peromyscus maniculatus dementis, see Mouse, white-footed. Petrel, black, 162, 249, 300. Pewee, Western wood, 160, 249. Pflueger, J. E., 84, 83, 346. Pflueger Prize, 85, 99 . Philip the Third of Spain, 16, 38. PhyUistis, see Leaf, brown (sea weed) . PhyUospadea, see Eel grass. Pico, Gov. Pio, 38. Pig, wild, 275-281, 288. Pigeon, band-tailed, 166. Pillsbury, G. E., Jr., 67, 100, 203. Pillster, I. C, 100, 184. Pimelodus, see Sheepshead. "Pimugna," native name of Santa Catalina, 16, 31. Pinacate, 199. Pinchot, Camp, San Clemente, 164. Pinchot, Cape, San Clemente, 146, 148, 151. Pinchot, Gifford, 74, 78, 109, 123, i33> 143, 147, 160, 169, 171, 173, 203, 226, 233. Pine, Torrey, 125, 240. Pine trees, 239. Pipilo demenUe, see Towhee, Clemente. Placelia, 155. Plantago insularis, 155. Plocamium coccineum, see Lace, scarlet (sea weed). Plover, snowy, 249. Polkinhorn, E. J., 66, 84, 93. Polley, Harry, 154. 236, 238, 239. Polysiphonia, see Rockweed, green. Polysipkonia baileyi,seeWormgras&. Pompano, 213. Pondstone, Jacob, 223. Poor-will, dusky, 162. Poppy, 155. Poppy, tree, 155, 237. Po pul us trie ho car pa (cottonwood), 240. Porichthys notalus, see'" Singing fish." Porpoises, 198, 291. Port Jackson, Australia, 310. Potter, , 160, 169. Potter, T. McD., 67, 85, 88, 89, 92, 94, 97, 98, 220, 223. Potter-Streeter Cup, 93. Potter Tuna Cup, 8s, 100. Potts's Valley, Santa Catalina, 270. Presiado, Jose, Felice, see Mexican Joe. Prickly pear, 239. Prince Island, 296, 297. Prisoner's Harbor, Santa Cruz, 260. Prunus, see Cherry, wild. Pueblos, Dos, 23. Puff ball, 312. Puffin, tufted, 163, 300. Puffinus, see Shearwater. Pyramid Head, San Clemente, 147. Pyrosoma, compound ascidian, 308. Quail, California, 157, 162, 350. Quail, plumed, 116. Quercus MacDonaldii, see Oak. Querais tomenteUa, see Oak island. Rattlesnake, 194. Rattleweed, 153. Ravens, 18, 160, 249, 286, 300. Ravenswood, Santa Cruz, 261. Ray, electric, 128. Ray, torpedo, 131. Raymond, Mrs. Walter, 71. Rays, 128, 131, 201. Red button, Tuna Club, 82, 84, 86. INDEX 391 "Red paint" used by Santa Cata- lina Indians, 294. "Red water," 181. Redondo Beach, 145. Reithrodontomys catalince, see Mouse, harvest. Remoras attending shark, 311. Reyes, Seflor Peter V., 45, 46. Rhacianestes glaucus, see Whale, California gray. Rhamnus pirifolia, see Buckthorn, pear-leaved. Rims, see Sumach. Rhus diversiloba, see Oak, five- leaved. Rhus integrifolia, 155. Ribbon fish, 289, 365. Rkardia, see Worm grass. Rice, H. C, 67. Richardson Rock, 301. Rider, F. V., 84, in, 346. Rider-Macomber Medal, 85, 99. Ringsen, Captain Chris, 82, 342. Robearts, Johnny, of San Clemente, 153- Robinson Crusoe's island, 319. Robinson, Mrs. H. W., 99. Rock-fish (groupers), 289, 364. Rockweed, green, 312. Rockweed, yellow, 312. Rodgers possibly visited islands, 15. Rohn, 52. Roosevelt, Theodore, 77, 81. Rooster-fish, 290. Russian otter-hunters, 30, 250, 298. Russians in California history, 274; in Channel Islands history, 282. Sacks, Edward C, 84, 346. St. Sebastian, patron saint of Mediterranean fishermen, 212, 213. St. Zeno, patron saint of Californian fishermen, 213. SMcornia, 153. Salmon, 182, 183, 324, 325, 343, 34s. Salmon, white (yellowtail), 339. Salpae, 180, 308. Sambucus glauca, see Elder, blue- berried. San Augustin, Cermefion's ship, 17. San Bonitos Island, 257. San Buenaventura, California, 272. San Buenaventura County, 191. San Clemente Channel, 146, 168, 184, 297. San Clemente Island, peaks of, 2, 41, 247; sheep-ranching on, 2, J 34, 13 6 . H6; rains on, 4, 149; location of, 4, 146, 207; naming of, n, 16, 21; old map of, 12, 13; original inhabitants of, 13, 17, 29, 30, 136, 152, 17s; name of Spanish adventurer perpetuated on, 17; described in Cabrillo's log, 21; antiquities found on, 29, 133, 134, 152, 250; sand-dunes of, 29, 133, 150, 224, 226; fishing at, 109, 120-123, 143-146, 337> 338, 342; description of, 133-178; length of, 136; lease of, 146; harbors of, 146, 168, 242; geological history of, 147-149, 210, 272; caves of, 150- 152, 169, 170, 173; plant life of, IS3-IS6; 177, 231. 233> 234, 236, 237, 239; birds of, 156-165; water on, 156, 301; crops on, 156, 157; wild goats on, 168; animals of, 191-193; sea animals at, 199; oceanic currents about, 208; Vizcaino at, 242; distance from San Nicolas, 243; deep water near, 248; canons of, 270; traces of tragedy on, 283; ownership of, 283; sheep-shearing at, 285; Chinese smugglers at, 356, 357. San Diego, n, 13, 296. San Diego Bay, 19. San Diego County, 23s. San Lucas Bay, Gulf of California, 68, 201. San Lucas Islands, 24, 25. San Miguel, see San Pedro. San Miguel Islands — location of, 4, 295; fog and mois- ture at, 4; Cabrillo buried on, n, 392 INDEX 25, 227, 295-297; old map of, 12; described in Cabrillo's log, 24, 25; dialect spoken by natives of, 31; distance from other islands, 31, 295; animals of, 193, 194, 30T; being blown into sea, 206, 295, 296; sand-dunes of, 224, 227, 228, 295, 296, 298; submarine ridge from, 272; description of, 295-302 ; ownership of, 295; dimensions of, 295; peaks of, 296; plant life of, 296, 300; harborage at, 297; origi- nal inhabitants of, 297; undesira- ble for residence, 297; fascinating barrenness of, 298; surrounded by rocky islands, 299; birds of, 300; scenery of, 301; caves of, 301; water on, 301; fossils found on, 301. San Miguel, Sinaloa, Mexico, 10. San Nicolas Island — rains on, 4; location of, 4, 146, 207, 242, 243; winds and calms at, 4, 232, 242-246, 250, 252, 319; old map of, 12, 13; original inhabita- tants of, 13, 30, 245, 246, 249, 250, 313. 314, 317, 318, 321, 322; "lost woman" of, 30, 245, 313-323; fishing at, 121, 249, 248, 249; geo- logical history of, 148, 272; birds of, 165, 249, 323; sea animals at, 199; being blown into sea, 206, 245 ; sand-dunes of, 227, 229; plant life of, 232, 246, 322, 323; descrip- tion of, 242-252, 313-323; area of, 243; topography of, 243; persons living on, 244, 250, 251; antiqui- ties on, 244-246, 249, 250, 321; climate of, 246; kelp beds around, 243, 247, 248; sea-lions at, 256; canons of, 270; traces of tragedy on, 283; laid out in lots, 283; unde- sirable for residence, 297; natives removed from, 314. San Pedro Bay, 20. San Pedro, harbor of Los Angeles, 36, 296, 318. San Pedro Hill, San Clemente, 147, 148, 210. San Pedro Point, 145, 271. San Roque Island, 257. San Salvador, Cabrillo's caravel, n. "San Salvador," Cabrillo's name for Santa Catalina, ir, 21. Sand dab, 127. Sand-dunes, 29, 133, 150, 224-230, 273, 286, 287, 295, 296, 298. Sandpiper, spotted, 249. Sandy Point, Santa Rosa, 287. Santa Barbara, 22, 245, 256, 265, 271, 274. Santa Barbara, indentation of coast at, 12. Santa Barbara Channel, 126, 189- 191, 201, 271, 273, 292, 333. Santa Barbara County, 191. Santa Barbara Islands, 3, 4, 13, 165, 166, 186, 258, 284, 299. Santa Barbara Mission, 274, 299, 318. Santa Barbara Rock, 1, 4, 242, 243, 299. Santa Catalina Channel, 4, 57, 180, 181, 191, 201, 214, 220, 291. Santa Catalina group, 4, 273, 299. Santa Catalina Harbor, 242; see Catalina Harbor. Santa Catalina Island — length and area of, 1, 2, 37, 40; peaks of, 2, 30-41, 114; climate of, 2, 3> 4i, 44, 246, 274; eucalyptus trees on, 4, 44; location of, 4, 37- 40, 51; harbors of, n, 40, 295; naming of, n, 16, 21, 204; old map of, 12, 13; Original inhabi- tants of, 13-15, 17, 27-32, 116- 119; described by early historian, 14; Vizcaino at, 16, 39, 204; name of Spanish adventurer perpetu- ated on, 17; temple on, described by Torquemada, 18, 313; described in Cabrillo's log, 21; antiquities found on, 27-29, 31, 32, 116, 117, 359; description of, 36-49; owners oi, 38, 33°; mining on, 38, 48, 283; residents on, 38, 39; discovery of, 39; canons of, 42, 43, 270; coach INDEX road on, 43, 112-119; fishing at, see Fishing; ease with which reached, '51; women fishing at, 71; geological history of, 148; fungi of, 155; hirds of, 158, 165, 166, 237, 238; wild goats on, 168, 176, 177; seen from San Clemente, 174; fogs on, 175; distance of Anacapa from, 189; animals of, 192-194, 275; new species of bee on, 199; leaping shark at, 201; plant life of, 231, 234-241; sea-lions of, 253, 254, 256; sea elephants of, 257; seal at, 259; thrown open to world, 265, 303; relation of, to Los Angeles, 265; romance and tragedy on, 283; sheep shearing on, 285; fossils found on, 293, 294; small islands near, 301; marine scenery around, 304-312; present valuation of, 336; animal life protected on, 253, 35i- Santa Clara Valley and Mountains, 22. Santa Cruz Island, grape growing on, 2 (see also ranch on, below); wooded, 3, 240, 260, 265, 266; eucalyptus trees on, 4; location of, 4; old map of, 12, 13, 273; de- scribed in Cabrillo's log, 22, 23; dialect spoken by natives of, 31; distance of, from San Miguel, 31; gold found on, 48; fishing at, 69, 121, 182, 270, 272, 273; birds of, 162, 165, 166, 300; wild goats on, 168, 176; fogs on, 175, 265; Ana- capa geologically a part of, 188; mice of, 188, 192; distance of Ana- capa from, 189, 271; fox of, 193; bats of, 194; lizards of, 194; plant life of, 231, 236, 239-241, 261, 270; sea-lions at, 255; description of, 260-274; peaks and canons of, 260, 261, 263, 270, 271; ranch on, 260, 262-265; relation of, to Santa Barbara, 265; distance of, from Santa Barbara, 265, 271; caves of, 268, 269, 273; original inhabitants of, 269, 270, 273; antiquities on, 269, 270, 272;Torrey pines on, 270; size of, 271; climate of, 271, 274; geological history of, 272; harbors of, 272, 273; sand-dunes on, 273; Cabrillo and Vizcaino at, 273; wild boar hunting on, 275-280; a penal settlement, 282. Santa Monica, 165. Santa Monica Bay 21, 22. Santa Rosa Island — cattle ranching on, 2, 284; in Santa Barbara group, 4; on old map, 12; old names of, 23-25, 286; distance of, from San Miguel, 31, 295; birds of, 166, 286; wild goats on, 168; fishing at, 182, 288-291, 293; fossils found on, 191, 289, 293; animals of, 194, 288; plant life of, 241, 288, 292, 293; climate of, 274; wild pigs on, 275, 281, 288; description of, 284-293; owners of, 284, 285; area of, 284, 287, 292; sheep shearing on, 285, 286; origi- nal inhabitants of, 286, 287, 289; antiquities of, 286, 287; distance of, from Santa Cruz, 286; topog- raphy of, 287, 289, 292; harbors of, 287, 288; sand-dunes of, 287; shoals of, 287; sea-lions at, 291; water on, 292. Santa Ynez Range, 191, 274, 287. Sardines, 120, 330, 360. Sargassum, see Gulf weed. Sargeant, Dr., 154. Saxifrage, 154. Scammon, Captain, 194, 256-258. Sceloporus, see Lizard, island fence. Schenck, F. S., 84, m. Schumacker, Professor, 27. Scudder, Clifford, 77. Sculpin, Calif ornian, 124. Sculpins, 310. Scytosiphon lomentarius, see Worm grass. Sea anemones, 309. Sea-angling, see Fishing. Sea bat, no, 201-203. 394 INDEX Sea-bears, 205. Sea-cucumber, 306, 309. Sea elephant rookeries, 257. Sea elephants, 188, 191, 194, 205, 256-258. Sea endive, 312. Sea grass, 312. Sea hare, 291. Sea hare, Florida, 291, Sea horse, 290. Sea lettuce, 312. Sea Lion Rocks (or Seal Rocks), Santa Catalina, 41, 256, 341. Sea-lion rookeries, 253-257, 259, 268, 288, 348, 350. Sea-lion, Steller's, 291. Sea-lions, 41, 191, 194, 198, 205, 253- 259. 291. 347-35°- Sea oak, 312. Sea otter, see Otter. Sea-urchin, long-spined, 306. Sea-urchin, white, 306. Sea weeds, 312. Sea weeds, edible, 363. Seal, harbor, 291. Seal, leopard, 257. Seal, Pacific harbor, 257. Seal Rocks, Santa Catalina, see Sea Lion Rocks. Seals, 191, 194, 198, 205, 253, 257- 259- Selkirk, Alexander (Robinson Cru- soe), 319. Senecio lyoni, see Groundsel. Seriola dorsalis, 335; see also Yellow- tail. Seriola lalandi, 335. Serpentine (verd antique), see Stea- tite quarry. Serra, Fr. Junipero, 13, 274, 282. "Seven cities," search for, 14, 204. Shade, Captain Al, 145, 159. Shags, 323. Shark, basking, 195, 200, 290. Shark, bonito, 199, 201, 214, 215. Shark, Catalina Port Jackson, 131, 310. Shark, grouper, 199. Shark, hammerhead, 199, 200, 215. Shark, leaping, 201, 345. Shark, man-eating, 199, 214, 215. Shark, oil, 201, 360. Sharks, 104, 199, 200, 214-218, 254, 31°. 3"- Sharpe, Gilmore, 199, 200, 223. Shatto, G., 38. Shaver Prize Rod, 99. Shaver, Roy F. B., 66. Shearwater (black-vented, dark- bodied, pink-footed), 163. Sheepshead, 123-125, 144, 145, 205, 288, 308. Shelvocke possibly visited islands, Ship Rock, near Santa Catalina, 43, 121, 301. Ship used by Spanish voyageurs, 11. Shoals, few at Santa Catalina, 41, 43- Shrike, California, 161. Sibbaldius sulfur eus, see Whale, sul- phur-bottom.' Silver button tournament and win- ners, 90, 96, 97. Silver Canon, Santa Catalina, 48, 283, 341. Silver Canon Beach, Santa Catalina, 41. Silver on Santa Catalina, 38, 48. Simpson, W. W., 92, 93, 146, 338, 346. Sinclair, Commodore H. H., 83. "Singing fish," 130, 131. Skinner, Miss Ada, 109. Skip- jack, 126. Smelt, 127. Smith, Captain Aleck, 195. Smith, H. L., in. Smith, Dr. W. S. T., 148, 210, 272. Smithsonian Institution, Antiqui- ties from Channel Islands at, 27, 29. Smugglers, Chinese, 356, 357. Smugglers' Cove, San Clemente, 143. 147. 162, Smugglers' Cove, Santa Cruz, 273. INDEX 895 Snake cactus, 140, 156, 233, 234, 239- Snakes, 194. Snapper, gray, 220. "Snow" of Southern California and Channel Islands, 241. Sonora, Mexico, rich lands in, 10; birds on islands off, 166. Sophia Boat Club, 82. Soquel, trout stream in California, 212. Sounds produced by fishes, 130, 131. South Coast Yacht Club, 83. South Point, Santa Rosa, 287, 288. Southern California Academy of Sciences, Bulletin of, 153, note. Southwest Museum, 250. Spanish discovery and occupation of Channel Islands, 6, 248, 274. Spanish voyageurs, 8-1 1. Sparks, Captain, 314. Sparrow, Bell's, 161. Sparrow, English, 160. Sparrow, golden-crowned, 161. Sparrow, intermediate, 160. Sparrow, San Clemente song, 161. Sparrow, Santa Barbara song, 300. Sparrow, Western chipping, 161. Sparrow, Western savanna, 160. Sport, value to State, 83. Squid, 290, 307. Squirrels, 192. Starfishes, 29r, 306, 309. Stearns, Col. John E., 70, 84. Steatite quarry, Empire Landing, San Catalina, 32, 34, 49. Stereolepis gigas, see Bass, black sea. Stilt, black-necked, 249. Stocking, R. F., 84, 346. Strafford, Mr., 216. Streeter Albacore Medal, 86, 88, 99. Streeter, L. P., 66, 67, 75, 86, 88, 89, 94, 98, 99. 203, 223. Sturdevant, C. R., 100, 184. Suadas, 246. Submarine ridges, 272. Sucking fishes, see Remoras. Sumach, 154. Sunfish, 120, 200, 290, 352. Swain's Canon, Santa Catalina, 236, 237- Sweezey, Miss D. May, 93, 94. Swift, white-throated, 138, 249. Swordfish, 7s, 84, 99, 100, 144, 203. Swordfish, Japanese, 289, 290. Sycamore trees, 239. Tackle, 47. S2, S3, 5SS&, 7<>, 75~77, 79-81, 89, 90, 97-99, 101-103, 108, 120, 122, 125, 126, 182, 217, 218, 327, 328, 330, 333, 334, 336, 337, 340, 342-344, 346. Talcott's Shoal, Santa Rosa, 287. Tameness of fish, animals, and birds, 41, 158, 179, 183, 193, 19s, 2S3, 254, 323, 347-352- Tanner, Captain, 206. Tanner's Bank, 4, 12, 148, 206-208, 210. Tarpon, 51, S3, 108, 109, 203. Tatler, wandering, 166. Tern, least, 165. Tern, royal, 163, 165. Tetrapturus, see Swordfish. Tetrapturus mitsukurii (Japanese swordfish), 203, 290. Thomas, Mr., 52. Thomas, C. A., 67, 84, in. Thompson, Captain A. B., 284. Thompson, D. W., 315. Three-Six Club, 74, 89, 97, 98, 101, 346. Thresher, long-tailed, 290. Thrush, dwarf hermit, 162. Thrush, russet-backed, 300. Thunderstorms, 6. Thunnus alalonga, see Albacore. Thunnus maculatus, see Tuna, yellow-fin. Thunnus thynnus, see Tuna, leaping. Tobari, harbor of, near mouth of Yaqui, 10, 325. "Topographic Study of the Islands of Southern California," Smith, 210. Torquemada, 17, 18, 313. 396 INDEX Torrey pine, 125, 240, 270. Tortoise, leather, 198. Towhee, Clemente, 161. Tracks, animal and bird, 164. Trade winds, 5, 189. Train, sparrows travel by, 160. Trask, Mrs. Blanche, 153-1551 2 3S> 236, 246, 322. Trefathom, Captain, 195. Trepang, Chinese, 309. Tripp, C. J., in. Trout, 120, 126. Trout, rainbow, 75, 211, 212, 222. Trout, sea, 333. Trowbridge, Dr., 84, 346. Tufts-Lyon Arms Co., 85, 88, 91. Tufts-Lyon Cup, 85, 93, 100. Tuna, 51-72, 74, 75, 80, 82, 84, 86- 88, 91, 93, 99, 100, 106, 108, 120, 126, 127, 144, 179-183, 211-215, 218-222; see also Tuna, leaping, etc. Tuna cactus, 156. Tuna Club, records and awards, prizes, trophies, and tournaments of, 3> 45, 62, 66-68, 70, 73-102, 107, no, in, 144, 145, 184, 211, 222, 333, 334, 338, 339, 346. Tuna Club Cup, 85. Tuna Club Gaffer's Badge, 82. Tuna Club Medal, 85, 99. Tuna, leaping, 51-53, 68, 70, 84, 102, 127, 179, 211, 214, 218, 222. Tuna, long-finned (albacore), 75, 126, 144, 179, 181, 182, 184, 213, 215, 220, 352. "Tuna of arrival," 212-214, 218, 221. " Tuna of return,'' 213-215. Tuna, yellow-fin, 84, 144, 183, 211, 213-216, 218, 220-223. Turquoise flower (or daisy), 154, 155. Tursiops, see Cow-fish. Turtle, California (or Pacific) green, 198, 291. Turtle, California loggerhead, 198, 291. Turtle, leather, 291, 292. Turtles, 198, 291. Tusayan, Coronado at, 15. Tutt, Commodore, 82. "Two Years before the Mast," Dana, 36. Tyler, A. L., 66. Tyler, Bight San Miguel, 297. Ulloa, Francisco de, 10. Viva lacluca, see Sea lettuce. "U. S. Coast Pilot," 207, 208. Urocyon catalina, Merriam, 193. Urocyon elements, Merriam, 193. Urocyon littoralis, Baird, 193. Urocyon littoralis, Santacruza, 193. Uta stansburiana, see Lizard, brown- shouldered. Vail and McVicker, Messrs., 285. Valdez, Cueva, Santa Cruz, 269. Van Dyke, Dr. Henry, 52, 74, 77, 80, 81, 320. Van Dyke, Theodore, 74, 78. Van Leiw, John, 100, 184. Vatican museum, "lost-woman's" garments exhibited in, 313, 319. Verde antique, see Steatite quarry. Verdi, Canon, Santa Rosa, 293. "Vermero, Mare" (Gulf of Cali- fornia), 13. Victoria (Santa Catalina), 204. Vittoria, La, Cabrillo's caravel, n. "Vittoria, La," Cabrillo's name for San Clemente, n, 21. Vixen, yacht, 83. Vizcaino Cape, Santa Catalina, 40. Vizcaino, Sebastian, n, 13, 14, 16-18, 30, 31, 33, 36, 40, 204, 242, 273- Vom Hofe, E., 85. Vom Hofe Prize, 85, 100. Voy, , 301. Warbler, Audubon's, 161. Warbler, dusky, 161. Warbler, hermit, 300. Warbler, magnolia, 300. Warbler, myrtle, 300. INDEX S97 .Warbler, pileolated, 300. Warbler, Townsend's, 300. Warren, Smith, 67. Water sports, Avalon Bay, 47. Waxwing, 161. Western Hardware and Arms Com- pany, 88, 92, 93. Weston, O. S., 93. Wetherby, Henry, 67. Whalebones, use of, by natives, 245. Whale, California gray, 195, 289, 291. Whale, fin-back, 291. Whale, keller, 198. Whale, Pacific humpback, 291. Whale, sulphur-bottom, 195, 196, 291. Whales, 37, 195-199, 289, 291, 352, 363, 364- Wheeler, Mrs., 154, 238. White Island, 301. White Rock, Santa Catalina, 120, 348. White, Stewart Edward, 171, 173. Whitefish (blanquillo), 122, 123, 125, 205, 288. White's Cafion, Santa Catalina, 42. Whitley, H. J., Co., Los Angeles, 92, 93- Whitman, Captain Claude, 82. Whitman, Mr., 333. Whitney, Caspar, 74, 78. Whitney, J. Parker, 78. Willetts, Mrs. D. J. F., 93. Williams, Ben, 66, 67. Williams, Miss Florence, 312. Willow trees, 239. Wilmington Transportation Co., 37. Wilson, E. C, 334. Wilson, G. S., 223. Wilson Rock, 301. Women, fish taken by, 71, 92-94, 99. "0,331. Wood, Mr., 70. Woodruff, Judge, 143. Woods, possibly visited islands, 15. "Woolies," 142. Worm grass, 312. Wren, rock, 161, 249, 300. Wren, San Clemente, 162. Wright, C. Irving, 67. Wright, Howard, 67. Xaxtusia, see Lizard, island night. Ximines, Fortunio, 10. Xiphias, species of swordfish, 203, 290. Yaqui River, 10, 229. Yellowtail, 75, 77, 79, 84, 87-91, 93, 94, 98-100, 103, 108, 120, 127, 143-146, 149, 211, 248, 288, 310, 334-34°- Zacatula, Mexico, 10. Zalmeron, Fray Geronimo de Zarate, 13, 14- Zalophus Calif omianus, 291. Zimolier, Captain Geo., 82. Zonaria tournefortii, see Fan, brown. Zufii, on early Spanish map, 13; pueblo of, 14, 204.