T^o California 



ing power to present the distance from friends 

 and home, and the completeness of my isola- 

 tion from all things familiar. 



Elsewhere I have already noted that when 

 I was a day's journey from the Gulf, a wind 

 blew upon me from the sea — the first sea 

 breeze that had touched me in twenty years. I 

 was plodding along with my satchel and plants, 

 leaning wearily forward, a little sore from ap- 

 proaching fever, when suddenly I felt the salt 

 air, and before I had time to think, a whole 

 flood of long-dormant associations rolled in 

 upon me. The Firth of Forth, the Bass Rock, 

 Dunbar Castle, and the winds and rocks and 

 hills came upon the wings of that wind, and 

 stood in as clear and sudden light as a land- 

 scape flashed upon the view by a blaze of light- 

 ning in a dark night. 



I like to cling to a small chip of a ship like 

 ours when the sea is rough, and long, comet- 

 tailed streamers are blowing from the curled 

 top of every wave. A big vessel responds awk- 

 wardly with mixed gestures to several waves 

 [ 177 ] 



