hey drop from
exhaustion, these little beasts are of incalculable value to the
laboring classes of southern Europe, Egypt, Mexico, and similar
lands. If they have failed to win affection, it is, perhaps, because
of their one infirmity,--their fearful vocal tones, which in America
have won for them the sarcastic title of "Rocky Mountain Canaries."

[Illustration: MIDWINTER IN CALIFORNIA.]

[Illustration: A CALIFORNIAN BURRO.]

[Illustration: ROMEO AND JULIET.]

Westward from Los Angeles stretches the famous "kite-shaped" track
which takes the traveler through the most celebrated orange and lemon
districts of the State. Starting upon this memorable excursion, our
route lay through the world-renowned San Gabriel Valley, a glorious
expanse ten miles in width and seventy in length, steeped in
sunshine, brilliant with every shade of yellow, emerald, and brown,
and here and there enriched by spots of brighter color where beds of
wild flowers swung their sweet bells noiselessly, or the light green
of orange trees, with mounds of golden fruit heaped in profusion on
the ground, relieved the sombre groves of eucalyptus whose foliage
was so dark as to be nearly black. Occasionally, however, our train
traversed a parched area which illustrated how the cloven-foot of the
adversary always shows itself in spots unhallowed by the benison of
water. In winter and spring, these sterile points would not be so
conspicuous, but on that summer day, in spite of the closed windows,
dust sometimes filled the cars, and for a little while San Gabriel
Valley was a paradise lost. For seventy miles contrasts of hot sand
and verdant orchards, arid wastes and smiling valley, followed one
another in quick succession,--and down upon it all frowned the long
wall of the Sierra Madre.

[Illustration: SAN GABRIEL VALLEY.]

[Illustration: GATHERING POPPIES AT THE BASE OF THE SIERRA MADRE.]

It is a wonderful experience to ride for such a distance in a
perfectly level valley, and see an uninterrupted range of mountains,
eight thousand feet in height, rising abruptly from the plain like
the long battle-line of an invading army. What adds to its
impressiveness is the fact that these peaks are, for the entire
country which they dominate, the arbiters of life and death. Beyond
them, on one side, the desert stretches eastward for a thousand
miles; upon the other, toward the ocean, whose moisture they receive
and faithfully distribute, extends this valley of