222 | The Flora of Guadalupe Island. (April, 
elevation of 3900 feet above the level of the sea. From this point 
the nearest main-land is visible. The sides of the ridge are ex- 
ceedingly rough and broken, cut up by numerous deep and rocky 
cafions, and even the more level surfaces are described as usually 
covered by rocks of every size and form. The rocks are volcanic, 
and several extinct craters still exist. j 
The island lies within the great ocean current which flows 
from the peninsula of Alaska down our western coast, the con- 
tinuation of what is known as the Japanese Gulf-Stream, and in 
the zone of the northwest trade-winds. Fogs are very prevalent, 
especially in the winter months (from November to February), 
when they are driven by the winds over the crest of the island, 
covering all the northern end and filling the upper portions of the 
caiions, while the lower cajions and the southern extremity of the 
island remain clear and warm. These winter winds from the 
northwest are described as strong and cold, sometimes extremely 
so, an instance of which occurred during December, 1874, when 
ice an inch in thickness was formed in the middle of the island, 
accompanied by two inches of snow, which was followed by hail® 
and five days of cold rain. In summer these winds have less 
force, though still brisk and chilly for much of the time; and the 
fogs, instead of being carried over the central ridge, are driven 
around the northern end, and by eddy-winds are borne into the 
lower cafions of the eastern side, which are thus made cooler 
than the region above them. Otherwise the summer months are 
intensely hot, especially in the southern portion of the island, and 
the soil becomes soon everywhere so dry that the effect of the 
temporary summer fogs upon the vegetation is slight. The differ- 
ence in the seasons, however, at the two extremities of the island 
is remarkable, as vegetation at the southern end and in the east- 
ern cañons is at least two months earlier than in the northern and 
western portions, and has for the most part reached its maturity 
by the close of May, under the then established heats of summer: 
The annual amount of actual rain-fall is very variable, there be- 
ing an abundance in some years, and in others little or none. 
Guadalupe was early known to the navigators of these seas; 
but it was never permanently occupied. There are evidences of 
its temporary occupation by shipwrecked sailors, and it was also 
long ago stocked with goats 1 for the purpose of supplying fresh 
meat to vessels short of provisions or suffering from scurvy; and, 
1 It is said that this was done by Captain Cook, who, however, was never upon this 
part of the coast. Vancouver passed near the island in 1793, but without stopping: 
pe A AMERS 
Nog ENILE E A EE ESN SE TIRE Pees ED S N 
Lo A A ae 
