8 RESOURCES OF CxiLIFORNIA. 



excellent protection against the strong winds of the coast. 

 The mouth of the bay, in latitude 40° 44', is a mile across, but 

 has breakers on each side ; and between them is a channel, a 

 quarter of a mile wide, with about eighteen feet of water at 

 low tide. The greater part of the bay is shallow, but there is 

 an abundance of deep water, with good anchorage and perfect 

 safety for shipping. The entrance is considered dangerous, 

 and a steam-tug escorts nearly all sailing-vessels in and out. 



Tomales Bay is fourteen miles long and two miles wide, 

 separated from the ocean by a strip of land a mile and a half 

 wide. Its mouth is in 38° 15'. Its course is southeastward, 

 and it is open to the northwest winds. The water is about 

 twelve feet deep. Tomales Bay is surrounded by hills, and is 

 of little value for commerce. 



San Francisco Bay, one of the finest bays in the world for 

 the purposes of commerce, is about eight miles wide and fifty 

 long, reaching from 37° 10' to 38°. Its entrance, called the 

 Golden Gate, or Chrysopylis, is a mile wide, between 37° 

 48' and 37° 49'. The peninsulas which separate the bay from 

 the ocean are from six to fifteen miles wide. The water on 

 the bar is thirty feet deep at low water ; inside much deeper, 

 with excellent holding-ground, and room for all the shipping 

 of the world. 



Connected with this bay are those of San Pablo and Suisun, 

 lying farther inland, on the course of the outlet of the waters 

 of the Sacramento basin. San Pablo Bav is nearlv round, 

 about ten miles in diameter, and lies north of San Francisco 

 Bay, with which it is connected by an unnamed strait, about 

 three miles wide. Suisun Bav, about four miles ^vide bv eio^ht 

 Ions:, lies eastward of San Pablo Bav, with which it is con- 

 nected by the strait of Carquinez, which is a mile wide. Both 

 bays are deep, but the water in the strait is only sixteen feet 

 deep at low tide, and large vessels cannot ascend beyond it. 

 Benicia, on the bank of the strait, is the head of navigation, 

 and aspires to be the main port of the coast, but in vain. Val- 

 lejo, seven miles from Benicia, still has hopes of that kind. 



