THE ISLAND OF THE SACRED CROSS 273 



of black earth. Everywhere the water was alive with 

 fish, though the actual fishing was not so good, at least 

 in my experience, as in the Santa Catalina group. We 

 lay one night in Smugglers' Cove south of the east 

 end in about thirty feet, but the sea came around the 

 bend and formed a ground swell that late in the night 

 rose, and, by dragging the anchor, forced us almost on 

 the beach. 



There was a little harbor called Alamo on the south 

 shore three and three-fourths miles from Gull Island, 

 large enough for sail boats. The next day we anchored 

 at Forney's Cove, a mile east of Eraser's, on the west 

 end. Here was a vast sand-dune having many evi- 

 dences of ancient occupation. The surf was heavy, 

 and we landed with difficulty. Not far from here we 

 found an old ranch house or a shearing station with a 

 telephone to the main ranch down the island. To the 

 west a long reef reached out to a little island, honey- 

 combed with caves. As the sea came in, bellowing 

 and muttering, it shook the ledge, and I fancied I 

 heard the booming guns of some galleon of long ago. 



It added to the delight of sailing about this island 

 to know that Cabrillo had landed here in 1 542 — three 

 hundred and sixty-eight years ago ; Vizcaino and others 

 centuries ago; and it did not require much imagina- 

 tion to refit the town sites with huts, to see the brown 

 naked figures on the sands, and the high-bowed canoes 

 coming in on the booming surf. 



Antonio de la Ascension, the Carmelite draughts- 

 man, laid out and mapped this very cove. He was 

 here with Don Sebastian on the fourth of December, 

 1603. If you will look up this date you will find the 

 reason. The channel of Santa Barbara with its ^^deli- 



