CHAPTER XV 



THE EVER-CHANGING ISLAND (aNACAPA) 



IT has been my good fortune to observe Anacapa 

 from almost every point of view, and I can testify 

 that the unknown person who named it the 

 "ever-changing" was a man of discernment; for so 

 strangely is Anacapa made up, or thrown together, or 

 pulled apart, it changes constantly as you pass it by. 



I have caught sight of it across the sandy country 

 from Hueneme to San Buenaventura, from the top of 

 Captain Banning's six-in-hand coach when we were 

 on our way up the coast. I have seen it from the 

 slopes of the Sierra Santa Ynez, or when coming down 

 along the steep cliffs from Santa Barbara. I have 

 sailed in upon it from the direction of San Nicolas in 

 the yacht of Captain Wm. H. Burnham, sailed all 

 about it, and again have come upon it suddenly when 

 coming down the coast in the steamer from San 

 Francisco, and Anacapa was always changing. Some 

 peculiar rock or peak was always different, as if genii 

 were playing a trick upon the imagination. 



The first time I landed here we came upon it from 

 the south and found the east end a great tilted mesa 

 reaching out into the sea. A piece had been cut out 

 of it, and the isolated portion formed a vast sea arch 

 through which a large yacht doubtless could sail. As 

 we drew nearer on the port tack, with schools of 

 bonito everywhere about us, the mesa was seen to be 



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