The Field of the Cloth of God 319 



that river of Lompoc. To find it you keep to 

 the right on the way up the coast from Los 

 Angeles to San Francisco, and it is nearly half- 

 way. You pass Santa Barbara with its re- 

 semblance to Naples, then Points Arguello and 

 Concepcion, and immediately appreciate the fact 

 that in about an hour's ride you have left the 

 real Southern California. Point Concepcion is 

 the boundary on the coast, at least at Santa 

 Barbara it is balmy and warm on the coast, but 

 suddenly you round the great cape and strike 

 a cold wind, and note a striking difference. 



The car has for some time been rushing along 

 in a seeming river of gold. Sometimes the river 

 appears to overflow its banks and spread out 

 for acres, yes, for miles, a real field of the cloth 

 of gold, apparently winding its way around the 

 world so far as you can see. The golden river 

 is the mustard in bloom. Its tufts of blossoms 

 rise, according to season, to a height of from 

 four to five feet, a solid mass of brilliant golden- 

 yellow, the most beautiful thing to be seen in 

 California, if you are fond of blazing splendid 

 color, which seems to be born of the sun god. 



This river of gold, which environs the track, 

 continues until you reach a long, wide, deserted 

 beach cut in the centre by one of the big rivers 

 of California, the Santa Ynez, which rises back 

 in the mountains some sixty miles away. A 

 splendid surf comes piling in, and you can trace 



