El Camino Real 193 



the sea. The old Mission is deserted. Bats flit about 

 its beautiful arches at night ; the strong west wind 

 sweeps through its adobe rooms unobstructed, and one 

 tries in vain to reconstruct the principality of eighty 

 years ago. Yet it was the centre of great groves and 

 extensive vineyards ; it had flocks and herds, and $90,- 

 ooo in cash ; but in 1846 it was sold by Governor Pio 

 Pico for $14,000 to carry on the war against the United 

 States. San Fernando is still picturesque in its de- 

 cadence ; the resort of artists, poets, and lovers of the 

 beautiful. 



Los Angeles is but a few miles distant, but the 

 coach keeps to the left, along the foothills of the Sierra 

 Madre, and enters the Canada through a series of 

 fine ranches, and so passes out into the San Gabriel, 

 crossing the Arroyo Seco above Pasadena, a charming 

 and modern city, the centre of tourist interest in South- 

 ern California, abounding in fine hotels and drives, and 

 remarkable for its climate, winter and summer, the best 

 test of which is the long list of well-known men and 

 women of the East who have made their home here. 



Pasadena is but four miles from the wall of the 

 Sierra Madre, nine miles from Los Angeles, and tl ree 

 from the old Mission of San Gabriel, in the town of that 

 name. Of all the valleys of Southern California, the 

 San Gabriel is the richest, the most beautiful ; and climb- 

 ing to the summit of Raymond Hill, which the genius of 

 Walter Raymond has made famous, the coachers are 

 confronted with what is doubtless one of the most 

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