AROUND SANTA ROSA 287 



difference being that the farther out the less the num- 

 ber and species. 



Qimbing the highest peak, Monte Negro, 1565 feet, 

 on a clear warm day, an inspiring view is obtained. To 

 the north, the lofty Santa Ynez Range rises, and the 

 other islands are seen east and west. The shores are 

 high, precipitous bluffs, abounding in great caves and 

 little bays, but there are no really good harbors. The 

 east end is rocky and dangerous, as two-thirds of a 

 mile out a rocky cone rises to within sixteen feet of 

 the surface, and about two miles away there is a shoal 

 with less than thirty feet. About two and a half 

 miles from East Point there are sand-dunes two hun- 

 dred and fifty feet in height, always changing in the 

 strong wind, and once the home of hundreds of natives, 

 who have left tons of abalone shells to tell the story. 

 The extreme northern end of the island is known as 

 Carrington Point; for nearly a mile it faces the sea 

 with a bold and menacing front at least four hundred 

 feet high, a notable sight from a long distance. Nearly 

 the entire island is surrounded with nereocystean kelp, 

 which constitutes a refuge for innumerable fishes. 



Looked down upon from the mountain, Santa Rosa 

 resembles a big ray fifteen miles across the wings or 

 fins (east and west), and ten from head to tail (north 

 and south). Away to the west end, at Sandy Point, 

 a splash of white tells of sand-dunes, and they are 

 almost mountains, rising four hundred feet high. Off 

 here is a dangerous shoal, Talcott's, with but eleven 

 feet of water over it, a mile and a half offshore. South 

 Point is formed by a great arm of the mountain, which 

 Santa Rosa seems to be. Here the bluff is one hun- 

 dred feet high, and lofty cliffs extend alongshore for 



