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. 



