RURAL CALIFORNIA 



CHAPTER I 



THE PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING OF 

 CALIFORNIA 



THE name "California" was probably first used as 

 a geographical designation by some Spaniard, now 

 unknown, soon after the discovery of the peninsula 

 of Lower California by Ximenes in 1533. As this 

 peninsula is widely separated from the mainland of 

 Mexico by the Gulf of California, it was natural that 

 the early explorers should conclude that they had 

 alighted upon an island. As there had been pub- 

 lished in Spanish about 1500 a heroic novel describ- 

 ing the deeds of an imaginary knight who received 

 assistance in his adventures from the queen of an im- 

 aginary island of fabulous wealth which the ancient 

 novelist called "California," it was natural enough 

 that the name should be applied to this new country 

 which was supposed to be an island. This concep- 

 tion was widely accepted and sixteenth century maps 

 of the possessions of the Spanish Crown in the new 

 world record the name California upon an insular 

 area with its southern portion well enough defined 

 and its northerly extension indefinite. 



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