188 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



night, each sheep being a sponge before morning; so 

 what is easier than for one sheep to drink from the 

 fleece of another? 



The herder and a man who said he was a State 

 senator, who were found on the island at the time of 

 my last visit, told tliis story. I confess that I felt I 

 was being overloaded with facts, yet I did not resent 

 the imputation that I looked as though I would believe 

 it; and after some days' experience with the night fogs 

 that sweep in here I was ready to believe anything. 

 I saw sheep that were walking sponges. 



Anacapa was thrown up by some upheaval of the 

 crust, and that it has been pushed up at successive 

 times is shown by its terraces, one after another, to 

 an altitude of three hundred feet, according to Gates, 

 a point that escaped miy own observation. Anacapa, 

 geologically, is a part of Santa Cruz. That it had 

 a population long ago is apparent, as I found evi- 

 dences here and there of kitchen-middens, and deposits 

 of ancient shells, and the tell-tale black earth. 



In the spring the Indians and Mexicans go over at 

 the bidding of the owner to Anacapa to shear the 

 sheep, many of which in dry years are killed to save 

 the rest. The island is so near the mainland that it 

 may be said to have the same birds, being in the line 

 of offshore migration. I saw many of the small birds, 

 as the finch and the meadow lark; and in the rocks small 

 mice, common on Santa Cruz. There are several sea- 

 lion rookeries here, and in former years the island 

 abounded in otters and sea elephants. Its waters 

 are alive with fishes of a desirable character, and its 

 rocks afford shelter to countless crayfishes or spineless 

 lobsters. 



