valleys would be pink and white, and soft to tread on.
They would fall as light as feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be
like sleeping and yet waking all at once."

She never knew Santa Barbara.

I said the horses feel proud, and their owners tell me how they turn
their heads to see their adornment. And well they may, for a true
Barbareno loves his horse as does the Arab, and delights in his
decoration. Easily first in this matter is Mr. W. D. Thompson, who came
to Santa Barbara from Maine more than forty years ago, a nephew of the
captain with whom Dana sailed. Mr. Thompson is a progressive man, who
appreciates the many improvements achieved and contemplated, but still
loves to tell of the good old times when he was roughing it as a
pioneer. He has done a most important and valuable work in having a
typical Mexican saddle and bridle of the most approved and correct
pattern made out of the finest leather and several thousand silver
dollars. As his favorite mare stood before me with this magnificent
saddle on, and her forelegs tied with a little strap so that she could
step daintily but not run, I never saw such a pretty sight of the kind.
This saddle and bridle, worth over $3000, are now on exhibition in
Chicago. No more significant or beautiful exhibition of the early
argonautic period could be sent from Southern California, and it will
surely attract constant and admiring attention. Here is a description
from the San Francisco _Argonaut_:

"This saddle and bridle, manufactured of bullion from Mexican dollars,
are exquisite works of art. The saddle is of typical Mexican pattern,
with a high pommel, well-hollowed seat, and the most elaborate of
trappings. The leather is stamped with elegant designs, and the whole
thing is a complete, costly, and elaborate equipment, of good taste and
artistic design. The saddle is studded over with silver ornaments. The
leather facings are set thick with buttons and rosettes; the pommel is
encased in silver; the corners of the aprons are tipped with silver; the
stirrups are faced and edged with silver half an inch thick, elaborately
chased and carved. The saddle-tree is hung with silver rings, fore and
aft, to answer all the requirements of the vaquero in lacing up his
riata. The girth, which passes under the horse's belly and cinches the
saddle in place, is woven of hair from horses' manes by a native
artisan, and is fully eight inches broad, with a tassel hanging at its
middle