116 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



the road turns at the head of Middle Ranch Canon 

 and the horses lope down into the heart of the 

 island. The canon now deepens and a brook appears, 

 running through an arbor of willows between rows of 

 the wild rose of early spring. Flocks of plumed quail 

 or partridge* rise here and there, or run along the 

 road before the horses. The track winds in and out, 

 now in a wide valley with the Cabrillo Mountains on 

 the left and low foothills reaching up to Mounts Black 

 Jack and Orizaba, about whose rugged summits the 

 wild goat makes its home. The caiion narrows again, 

 and you tool down a descent as the coach rolls into 

 Eagle Nest Ranch beneath a clump of cottonwoods. 

 Here one may sit in the dooryard and listen to the 

 notes of the plumed quail, the rush of the brook after 

 the winter rain, or the booming roar of the ocean waves 

 that come up the long caiion from the south shore. 



After lunch we tarry a while to listen to the tales 

 of the goat hunters who are making their headquar- 

 ters here; then we take our seats again and the coach 

 winds down Middle Ranch Canon to the great arm 

 of Mt. Orizaba, which is an island divide. 



Just over this divide, which can be followed to the 

 sea — a mile away — a lofty rock with pinnacle-like 

 top rises. It would not be suspected as a cave dwell- 

 ing, but as the driver stops the team, the party ascend 

 the slope and find beneath the rocks a most interesting 

 example of a home of the Stone Age of California. 

 In front of the entrance to the cave is a pile of abalone 

 shells brought by the natives from the sea, and on 

 the floor of the cavern have been found various 

 implements — stone arrowheads, spearheads, drinking 



•This species, Lophotryx catalinensis, Grinnell, is peculiar to the island. 



