46 Life in the Open 



silvery bed of the Los Angeles River, while beyond rose 

 the Sierra Santa Monica range reaching away, literally 

 plunging into the distant Pacific. One must climb to 

 such a height to appreciate the mountains of Southern 

 California and obtain an intimate glance of the land. 



It is a good principle and safe in such hunting to 

 keep to the trails. Led by exuberant fancy and a desire 

 to see other parts of the mountains I rode down a long 

 limb of the mountain over a coyote trail, in a short time 

 finding myself involved in the chaparral. If I could 

 have gone down on my knees and crawled I might have 

 made some progress, but the breaking through was 

 deadly. I came out into an area that had been burned 

 over, and as my horse pushed aside the branches they 

 sprang back like steel springs. For a time I was seri- 

 ously involved and came out, as General Gordon has ex- 

 pressed it, "worn to a frazzle," having learned the 

 lesson to keep to the trails and not attempt in summer 

 to ride a horse through the chaparral on the south side 

 of a Southern California mountain that has been burned 

 over. 



There are mountains back of Santa Barbara and in 

 San Diego and other counties where deer-hunting is not 

 so difficult, where the game is more plentiful and can 

 be followed in the Eastern fashion. Again, in some of 

 the less frequented regions it can be found in the low- 

 lands along the base of the mountains, especially over 

 the line in Lower California ; but some of the finest sport 

 can be had in season on the great slopes of San Jacinto, 



