1889.] Across the Santa Barbara Channel. 213 
form " of which is as large as a man's hand, and the "chain 
form " is many yards in length. 
Looking into the canon' from our anchorage, we notice 
that the high cliffs of the brow, which appears an unbroken 
peak from Santa Barbara, have a cleft form with jagged edges, 
as if they had been broken asunder by volcanic forces. This 
effect is thought to be due to the recent elevation of the 
island, and to tell the same story as the raised terraces on 
the eastern and western ends of the island. In the chart, by 
the Coast Survey, a mountain called Ragged Mountain occu- 
pies the position of this break. The mode of formation of this 
canon and fiord' is not wholly clear to me. That water has 
played an important part in its formation is doubtless true^ 
but, at the same time, the sharp break indicates some other and 
more violent geologic agency. The perpendicular walls of 
the caiion are certainly from 600 to 9CX) feet high. The caiion 
makes up through the mountains, and in the present season 
a good stream of fresh water flows out of it past the shingly 
beach to the cove. On the mountain side we noticed little 
vegetation, but here and there a clump of prickly pears, and 
small bushes with yellow poppy flowers. The rock is a coarse 
conglomerate, the embedded boulders of black asphaltic 
color, and the matrix red. The matrix is in many places 
very much eroded, and the hard, embedded, angular rocks 
stand out inrelief, sometimes clinging to the cliff by a single 
edge. The embedded rocks are angular, and little water- 
worn, except where they are exposed to wave action. 
to elevation, or in this way the elevated terraces were interpreted. 
Some of the neighboring islands like Anacapa, show similar 
