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 suddenly withdrawn they would take shape as mar- 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 caiion 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 cUmates, and each island has several kinds of 



