Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/34



tier slopes,  and  radiating  valleys  and  ridges,  and  minia- ture plains, through  which  thread  numerous  stream- lets, were not  long  since  the  home  of  the  prowling panther and  marauding  coyote,  of  wild-cat,  bear,  and deer. Myriads of  wild-fowl  and  sea-birds  fished  in these  waters,  and  quarreled,  filling  the  air  with  their shrill cries;  while  within  the  bay  and  without  the  por- tal, and for  3000  miles  along  the  shore,  were  seal-rocks, with crawling  monsters  barking,  enjoying  their  siesta, or holding  conference  like  sinful  souls  in  purgatory.

Northward there  is  a  maze  of  undulating  elevations, domes ridges  and  peaks,  their  outline  toward  the ocean delicately  penciled  against  the  sky,  and  further inland in  the  distance  is  a  background  of  nebulous mountains, the  landscape  lighted  in  places  by  unseen waterSj and  all  painted  in  soft  aerial  colors  of  varied depth and  tone. Toward the  south  the  ridges  on either  side  recede;  the  water  broadens  at  first,  then narrowing, melts  away  in  hazy  perspective. Beyond is the  great  sea,  smiling  in  azure  or  fretting  in  impa- tient green and  white,  with  its  silence-breathing  surf singing ocean  lullabies  to  the  sleepy  hills,  or  rolling  in from  the  horizon  huge  waves,  which,  dashing  them- selves aofainst their  shore-limits,  fall  back  foamino;  at their  own  impotency.

Thus sculptured  in  the  heart  of  the  Coast  Range, some parts  of  the  bay  are  narrow  and  deep  like  a highland  loch,  with  bluffs  and  promontories ;  in  otlier parts the  water  spreads  out,  and  encircles  large  islands, ■ — Angel, Alcatraz,  and  Yerba  Buena, — or  washes  a diminutive  beach. Its seaward  shore  is  splintered into points  and  estuaries;  on  the  opposite  side  are coves and  graceful  crescents ;  while  round  the  northern end, where  empties  the  Sacramento,  are  bays  carved within bays,  straits  and  deep- flowing  channels,  and sentinel islands  and  embankments.

The northern  side  of  the  Golden  Gate  is  a  steep, dark, reddish  wall,  six  or  eiq-ht  hundred  feet  in  heiglit. From the  top  of  this  wall  the  hills  mount  and  roll  off