CHOROGEAPHY. 7 



lies in the course of tlie Alameda Creek. In the San Francis 

 quito Pass, forty-five miles northward from Los Angeles, there 

 was a lake called Lake Elizabeth, covering several hundred 

 acres, but it has dried up of late. 



These are the only lakes of note in the Coast district. Pre- 

 vious to 1860, there was a lake called the "Laguna Sal," six 

 miles long and three wide, near Alamo, San Diego county; 

 but it entirely dried up in that year. The water had a strong 

 taste of alkali and sulphur. According to report, the lake was 

 formed about the year 1820. 



§ 6. Capes. — CaUfornia has two capes: Cape Mendocino, 

 in 40° 25'; and Point Conception, in 34° 25'. The former is 

 reputed to be the stormiest place on our coast ; the latter is 

 the southern limit of the cold fogs and cool summers. 



§ 7. Islands. — About forty miles westward from San Fran- 

 cisco are the Farallones, seven little islands of bare rocks, the 

 largest with an extent of a couple of acres, and of no signifi- 

 cance save as a danger to shipping, and as a point where a 

 large lighthouse is maintained. All the other islands of Cah- 

 fornia lie between 32° 50' and 34° 10', the farthest one being 

 about sixty miles from the mainland. They are named Santa 

 Cruz, Santa Catalina, San Clemente, Santa Rosa, San Nicolas, 

 Anacapa, and Santa Barbara. They are all hilly, rocky, bar- 

 ren, and of little value. Santa Cruz, the largest and best of 

 them, has good water and a few trees. It is twenty-one miles 

 long:, with an average width of about three miles. All these 

 islands appear to be peaks of submerged mountain-ridges. Be- 

 tween them and the mainland lies the Santa Barbara channel. 



§ 8. Bays and Harbors. — California has four land-locked 

 bays — Humboldt, Tomales, San Francisco, and San Diego. 

 All of them are comparatively long and narrow, and separated 

 from the ocean by narrow peninsulas, their general course 

 being parallel with the coast. 



Humboldt Bay is twelve miles long, from two to five miles 

 wide, and is separated from the ocean by two tongues of land, 

 which are covered by high and dense timber, and offer an 



