10 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA.. 



oflfered by the Bays of San Francisco, Monterey, 

 San Pedro, Santa Barbara, and San Diego. The 

 Bay of San Francisco is one of the finest harbors in 

 the world. The combined fleets of all the naval 

 powers of Europe might there find safe shelter. It 

 is surrounded by ranges of high hills, and joins the 

 Pacific by a passage two miles w^ide and three in 

 length. The other harbors can only be frequented in 

 the fine season, and aifford a very insecure shelter for 

 vessels. San Diego is the farthest south. The bay 

 at that place runs ten miles eastward into the land, 

 and is separated from the ocean by a ridge of sand. 

 Proceeding northward, about seventy miles, the Bay 

 of San Pedro is next met. It is open to the south- 

 west winds, but sheltered from the north-west. About 

 a hundred miles north-west of San Pedro, is the har- 

 bor of Santa Barbara. It is an open roadstead shel- 

 tered from the north and west winds, but exposed to 

 the violence of the south-westerly storms, which pre- 

 vail during the greater part of the year. A hundred 

 miles farther north is the Bay of Monterey. It is 

 extensive, and lies in an indentation of the coast, 

 somewhat semicircular. The southernmost portion is 

 separated from the ocean by the point of land ending 

 at the Cape of Pines. In the cove thus formed, 

 stands the town of Monterey, for some time the capi- 

 tal of California. The harbor afi'ords but a poor shel- 

 ter from storms. 



The Sacramento and San Joachim are the princi- 

 pal rivers of California, but the Sacramento alojie is 

 navigable to any extent worthy of mention. There 

 are numerous small streams and lakes in the interior, 

 the principal outlet of which is the Colorado River. 

 The valleys through which these streams flow are 



