CALIFORNIA AND WESTERING SUN 313 



of water bordered by marshes which produce 

 quantities of tulis (bullrushes) and pasturage for 

 cattle. Vast numbers of ducks and geese frequent 

 the bay and marshes in spring and fall. Suisun 

 Bay is some fifty miles long and empties through 

 Carquinez Straits into the Bay of San Francisco 

 which is itself sixty-five miles long and twelve wide 

 at its widest, and through which these waters reach 

 the Golden Gate and the Pacific Ocean. At the 

 Carquinez Straits there plies the largest ferryboat 

 in the world so they say capable of transport- 

 ing whole trains of overland passengers at a single 

 trip. These immense land-locked waters, which 

 the Coast Range shuts in everywhere except at the 

 Golden Gate have much influence on the climate 

 and upon the plants of the districts bordering upon 

 them. In fact it may be said that the bay region 

 has several climates and a flora all its own. 



But if I began on this region also, this tale 

 would never have an end. California is three 

 times the size of New York, you must remember, 

 with enough left over to cover Servia. The 

 County of San Bernardino alone is larger than that 

 little Kingdom over which twelve European States 

 are now so fiercely warring. You see how hard a 

 task I set myself in attempting to give you even the 

 crudest outline of so big and varied a country. 



