In the Santa Clara. 277 



Whirling on, and ascending the peninsula, we pass into and through the 

 •great camp-meeting establishment known as Pacific Grove, and then emerge, 

 or rather immerge, into the dark pine woods lying between the grove and the 

 more famous region beyond. After a drive of some miles, with the perpen- 

 dicular walls of pines on either hand, we come to the edge of that celebrated 

 forest called the Monterey Cypresses. Of these wonderful trees there is here 

 an area of about five hundred acres, through which you pass to Cypress Point 

 on the Pacifie. According to Professor Gray, this is the only place in the 

 world where the Monterey cypress is found in the native state. The trees 

 so called are among the most picturesque and grand of all the growths on 

 our planet. They much resemble the ft,mous cedars of Lebanon ; but the 

 Monterey cypress is flat on the top, spreading wide, banyan-like, on its upper 

 surface. One of the most inspiring spectacles I ever beheld was that of these 

 great cypresses growing down to the very rocky margin and precipice of 

 the Pacific and leaning back from the deep as they had been driven and 

 pressed by infinite storms blowing landward through the ages. And yonder 

 before is a wonder still more sublime. It is the Pacific itself, rolling in, in 

 tremendous waves, her thunder and roar resounding among these giant 

 rocks that stand defiant around the bleak promontory, as if to guard it and 

 protect it from the assaults of everlasting warfare. Of all the places along 

 the sublime margin of this majestic sea, I saw none that could quite equal 

 the grandeur and magnificence of the tumbling and booming waves as they 

 broke and rushed and receded from the granite barricade and battlements 

 which nature has planted and reared against the rage of the infinite waters 

 at Cypress Point. 



During our stay of an hour at the Point we had the pleasure of seeing 

 and watching the maneuvers of the great marine democracy of the Com- 

 monwealth of Sealdom. They had a convention on the afternoon of our 

 arrival, and some of the leading orators were vociferating to a crowd of some 

 five or ten thousand assembled citizens. The meeting was held on some 

 granite rocks half a mile from the shore. The old Norsemen of Iceland 

 used to hold their Allthing, or Congress, in a natural concavity or amphi- 

 theater in the mountains, about the center of the island. The place, un- 

 doubtedly, was sufficiently solitary and sublime. I am not sure, however, 

 but that this granite areopagus of the seals, with the roaring waters at its 

 base, is a grander place for discussing the affairs of government. Ever and 

 anon, while the orators were still under way, new delegations arrived and 

 climbed up into the crowd. There were old men and women and boys. A 

 few sal silent and weighed the reasonings and declamation of the speakers 

 in a critical and judicious way ; but the younger and more aggressive ele- 

 ment wriggled about in the throng, and created great disturbance. One 

 commendable feature of the convention was the absence of brass bands! 



Cypress Point is one of the best places on the coast for the gathering of 

 shells. Down yonder some hundred feet over these precipitous and almost 

 inaccessible walls of granite, where the surges slosh among the rocks, the 



