THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 3 



climates. Thus, Avalon Bay rarely, 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 



