XI 



SEVEN MAELIN SWORDFISH IN ONE DAT 



SAN CLEMENTE lies forty miles south of Santa 

 Catalina, out in the Pacific, open to wind and 

 fog, scorched by sun, and beaten on every shore by 

 contending tides. Seen from afar, the island seems 

 a bleak, long, narrow strip of drab rock rising from 

 a low west end to the dignity of a mountain near 

 the east end. Seen close at hand, it is still barren, 

 bleak, and drab; but it shows long golden slopes of 

 wild oats; looming, gray, lichen-colored crags, 

 where the eagles perch; and rugged deep canons, 

 cactus-covered on the south side and on the other 

 indented by caves and caverns, and green with 

 clumps of wild-lilac and wild-cherry and arbor vitse; 

 and bare round domes where the wild goats stand 

 silhouetted against the blue sky. 



This island is volcanic in origin and structure, 

 and its great caves have been made by blow-holes 

 in hot lava. Erosion has weathered slope and wall 

 and crag. For the most part these slopes and walls 

 are exceedingly hard to climb. The goat trails are 

 narrow and steep, the rocks sharp and ragged, the 

 cactus thick and treacherous. Many years ago 

 Mexicans placed goats on the island for the need 

 of shipwrecked sailors, and these goats have trav- 



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