8S 



reddish brown sandstone is said to exist 

 on one of these islands. The vegetation 

 has been briefly noted by Edward Lee 

 Greene, in the West American Scientist. 



ST. MARTIN: situated in 30 degrees, 

 20 minutes north latitude, and 116 de- 

 grees, 121 minutes west longitude; is of 

 moderate height, 12 miles long by 2 wide, 

 with anchorage on its south and south- 

 east sides in 12 to 18 fathoms. A little 

 lagoon is found on its southern side, 

 which is quite low, where seal used to 

 resort in large numbers. It is quite 

 barren, producing only cacti, shrubs and 

 herbage that grow in a scanty soil, 

 among broken rocks in a dry climate. 



ST. GERONIMO: called by sea-otter 

 hunters Round Island; of moderate ele- 

 vation, long, about 2 miles wide, ex- 

 tremely barren, about 3 miles from the 

 mainland. Affords a good shelter, on its 

 northeast side, from northwesterly winds. 

 A reef lies between the island and the 

 shore, where the sea breaks heavily in 

 rough weather. 



GUADALUPE ISLAND is a high ele- 

 vation of land running nearly north and 

 south, in extent about 15 miles. There 

 is no safe anchorage around it, the 

 shores being bold, and its banks gener- 

 ally high and precipitous. The northern 

 extremity is not less than 3,400 feet 

 above the sea, with a growth of pines 

 and cypress, while its deep canyons con- 

 tain a palm tree peculiar to the island. 

 Vegetation is by no means abundant, 

 but the flora of the island is fairly well 

 known through the collections made by 

 Dr. Edward Palmer, and by Professor E. 

 L. Greene. Fresh water is found here, 

 and goats introduced to the island have 

 increased immensely. Fur seal and the 

 sea elephant once made its shores a 

 favorite resort. Two barren rocky islets 

 lie off its south end. 



ELIDE: a naked rock, one mile in cir- 

 cumference, once covered with guano; 

 from 1857 about 28,000 tons were taken 

 off, when the supply became exhausted. 

 The nearest water is 7 miles east, on 

 *he mainland. 



CHESTER'S ISLAND is an islet lying 

 close to the north side of Point St. 

 Eugenio, named for an American sea 

 captain, who denuded it of guano in 

 early days. 



SAN BONITO ISLANDS are three in 

 number, two moderately high, the mid- 

 dle one quite low, 15 miles west of 

 Cedros Island, separated from each other 

 by narrow passages, where boats may 

 pass in safety, but not practical for 

 large vessels. Their united length is not 

 over 10 miles, the largest, the western 

 one, being about 5 miles in extent, the 

 other two about half the size each, all 

 very barren, affording neither wood nor 

 water. Seal and sea-elephants were for- 

 merly found on them in large numbers. 

 A species of cactus seems to be peculiar 

 to these islets, but the vegetation is 

 sparse. Anchorage may be had on the 

 southeast side of the middle island in 

 from 10 to 20 fathoms, but the bottom is 

 quite rocky and poor holding-ground. 



»08 



N ATI VI DAD: lies between Cedros and 

 the mainland, rising to 700 feet eleva- 

 tion, 5 miles long, by 1 broad, perfectly 

 barren, the breeding-place of large num- 

 bers of seal and sea fowl. 



MARIA ISLAND is an islet off the 

 west end of Natividad Island, and has 

 •yielded some guano in the past. 



ST. ROQUE: in 27 degrees north lati- 

 tude, less than two miles off the coast, a 

 low rock, covered with some coarse 

 gravel and light sand, intermixed with 

 bird-lime, about 5 square miles in ex- 

 tent. Its shores are the breeding-places 

 of seals, and were once a favorite resort 

 of the sea-elephant; large numbers of a 

 small sea-fowl called mutton-birds bur- 

 row in the sandy soil, where they hatch 

 their young. Good shelter can be found 

 for a small vessel between the island 

 and the main. 



ASUNCION: in 26 degrees, 50 minutes, 

 north latitude, 114 degrees west longi- 

 tude, is similar to St. Roque, a little 

 higher in elevation, and affords a good 

 anchorage on its southeastern side in 12 

 to 15 fathoms, well sheltered from the 

 prevailing northwest winds. 



SANTA MARGARITA: a cluster of 

 high rocky peaks and slopes, broken, ex- 

 tremely barren, near Magdalena bay. 

 Veins of coal, copper and gold have been 

 reported as existing in its mountains. 

 Capt. Scammon reports that "two ships' 

 companies once carried on gold-mining 

 (as they supposed) for a few weeks 

 pretty extensively, and large quantities 

 of the virgin metal were taken on board, 

 out, much to the disgust of all con- 

 cerned, it proved to be nothing but iron 

 pyrites." The extent of the island east 

 and west is 36 miles. 



MANGROVE: near Santa Margarita 

 island, is low, composed of sand and 

 mud, covered in places with a thick 

 growth of mangrove-trees. 



CEDROS ISLAND: see Cerros Island. 



UERROS ISLAND: also called Cedros, 

 is a mass of high, abrupt peaks, the 

 highest of 2,500 feet elevation, which 

 may be seen in clear weather a distance 

 of 60 miles. It bounds the west side ol 

 San Sebastian Viscaino bay, its south 

 point is 28 degrees, 3 minutes north lat- 

 itude, 115 degrees, 25 minutes west long- 

 itude. 



Capt. Scammon says: — "On near ap- 

 proach its sombre and barren appear- 

 ance is anything but inviting. Many of 

 the southern slopes present a dark-red 

 hue, interspersed with high variegated 

 cliffs that give a little change to the 

 otherwise dull scene. On landing, one is 

 sensible of the extremely dry atmos- 

 phere prevailing; there must be, how- 

 ever, occasionally heavy rains producing 

 mountain torrents, which have cut their 

 way through the sand and gravel bot- 

 toms that skirt the southern bases, but 

 they are of rare occurrence, those best 

 acquainted, who have been living there 

 or along the coast for nearly the last 

 five years, have never known it to be 

 (To be continued.) 



