372 Life in the Open 



posed to continue until April, coming once in three or 

 four weeks, in no sense constituting a " rainy season/' 

 which is a popular delusion. In February or March 

 there are often several hot days ; then the spring weather^ 

 cool, delightful, with high fog, comes and continues with 

 an uninterrupted procession of beautiful days. The first 

 really hot weather in May perhaps dries up the herbage 

 or alfileria and clover. The crops of barley and oats 

 are piled high, and are being baled ; the vineyards are 

 masses of green and the mesas are again taking on the 

 brown hue of summer, though the chaparral, that clothes 

 the hills and mountains, is always green. In May and 

 June the tender tints of Calochortus, the Mariposa lily, 

 white and lavender, cast a filmy sheen in little parterres 

 or along the southern slopes of the hills, poising like 

 flocks of literal butterflies over the gaunt and spined 

 leaves of cactus. Early the graceful Brodsea paints the 

 chaparral in vivid tints of lavender, and in the caftons 

 the wild tiger lily gives a flame-like hue to the rocky 

 slopes. 



Every season has its floral host, and from May to 

 July a signal blazes on the mountain-sides, tall stalks 

 shooting up here and there like magic, the splendid 

 ethereal bloom of the yucca, the " candlestick of the 

 Lord," an angelus of the eternal slopes, the clang of 

 whose bells is incense. 



A strong breeze now blows regularly from the ocean, 

 erroneously called the " trade wind," stopping at night 

 to blow from the mountains, bringing a suggestion of sa- 



