CHAPTER XIX 



THE SAND-DUNES OF THE ISLANDS 



AMONG the extraordinary features of the islands, 

 and particularly of San Clemente and San 

 Miguel, are the sand-dune sections, mysterious 

 areas where pure sand of the most elusive and 

 subtle character seem to have taken possession of the 

 island. Approaching Rowland's on the west end, 

 one sees, about two hundred yards north of it, on 

 the face of a bluff, a white arrow-shaped object very 

 conspicuous against the cactus-covered bluff. This 

 is a little landmark, a diminutive sand-dune which 

 the wind plays on so delicately, and it is so mathe- 

 matically adjusted, that it has to my knowledge never 

 materially increased or diminished since I first saw 

 it twenty years ago. It still stands as a beacon to 

 the mariner, seeking the often forbidding shores of 

 San Clemente. 



The sand-dunes are found a mile or two north of 

 Rowland's at the Isthmus and on the northwest shore, 

 presenting from the ocean a white line just above the 

 rocks. There is no sandy beach for the sand to blow 

 up from, no stated supply, as it were; yet here, con- 

 jured by the winds that eternally come in from the 

 deep sea, the dunes play an extraordinary part in what 

 might be called the life of the island, as they move, 

 change, come and go, as if possessed of some weird 

 personality. 



224, 



