El Camino Real 207 



Missions a few years ago were rapidly going to decay, but 

 the Landmarks Club of Los Angeles has accomplished 

 good work in preventing their destruction. The decay 

 of San Fernando, Pala, San Juan Capistrano, and San 

 Luis Rey has been arrested, and travellers through the 

 fair country will now doubtless have the old Missions 

 for all time, as their historical value is thoroughly appre- 

 ciated by the present dwellers in the land of the setting 

 sun. 



I have made a coaching trip of another kind, in 

 which hotels were not considered. The six-in-hand old- 

 fashioned California coach was followed or preceded by 

 a team loaded with the camping outfit. Captain William 

 Banning was the whip and host ; the best driver of a 

 six-in-hand in California. The route was laid out in 

 advance and six or seven tents were pitched every night, 

 a cook and provisions being taken. This proved a de- 

 lightful experience. Attractive locations for camping 

 were selected along the route, the coach making the 

 run from Los Angeles to San Francisco in about thirty 

 days, no effort being made to make time. The follow- 

 ing year this coach was shipped to San Francisco and 

 the drive made about five hundred miles north ; and on 

 another season through the Yosemite. California can 

 be seen from a car window, but to get in complete 

 touch with the country it should be seen at close range, 

 either in a coach, the saddle, automobile, or carriage. 



