THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY 



ous antagonism. I believe there are some 

 fifteen thousand people here, and some of their 

 buildings are rather fine, but the gardens and 

 the sky interested me more. A palm is seen 

 here and there poising its royal crown in the 

 rich fight, and the banana, with its magnificent 

 ribbon leaves, producing a marked tropical 

 effect — not semi-tropical, as they are so fond 

 of sajdng here, while speaking of their fruits. 

 Nothing I have noticed strikes me as semi, save 

 the brusque Uttle bits of civilization with which 

 the wilderness is checkered. These are semi- 

 barbarous or less; everything else in the region 

 has a most exuberant pronounced wholeness. 

 The city held me but a short time, for the San 

 Gabriel Mountains were in sight, advertising 

 themselves grandly along the northern sky, 

 and I was eager to make my way into their 

 midst. 



At Pasadena I had the rare good fortune to 

 meet my old friend Doctor Congar, with whom 

 I had studied chemistry and mathematics 

 fifteen years ago. He exalted San Gabriel above 

 all other inhabitable valleys, old and new, 

 on the face of the globe. "I have rambled," 

 said he, "ever since we left college, tasting 

 innumerable climates, and trying the advan- 

 tages offered by nearly every new State and 

 Territory. Here I have made my home, and 

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