and the cultivation of flowers,
will change the place in a year or two into a scene of green and floral
loveliness; in this region two years, such is the rapid growth, suffices
to transform a desert into a park or garden. On the hills, at a little
distance from the beach and pier, are the buildings of the Chautauqua,
which holds a local summer session here. The Chautauqua people, the
country over, seem to have, in selecting sightly and agreeable sites for
their temples of education and amusement, as good judgment as the old
monks had in planting their monasteries and missions.

[Illustration: AT AVALON, SANTA CATALINA ISLAND.]

If one desires a thoroughly insular climate, he may cross to the
picturesque island of Santa Catalina. All along the coast flowers bloom
in the winter months, and the ornamental semi-tropical plants thrive;
and there are many striking headlands and pretty bays and gentle seaward
slopes which are already occupied by villages, and attract visitors who
would practise economy. The hills frequently come close to the shore,
forming those valleys in which the Californians of the pastoral period
placed their ranch houses. At San Juan Capristrano the fathers had one
of their most flourishing missions, the ruins of which are the most
picturesque the traveller will find. It is altogether a genial,
attractive coast, and if the tourist does not prefer an inland
situation, like the Hotel Raymond (which scarcely has a rival anywhere
in its lovely surroundings), he will keep on down the coast to San
Diego.

The transition from the well-planted counties of Los Angeles and Orange
is not altogether agreeable to the eye. One misses the trees. The
general aspect of the coast about San Diego is bare in comparison. This
simply means that the southern county is behind the others in
development. Nestled among the hills there are live-oaks and sycamores;
and of course at National City and below, in El Cajon and the valley of
the Sweetwater, there are extensive plantations of oranges, lemons,
olives, and vines, but the San Diego region generally lies in the sun
shadeless. I have a personal theory that much vegetation is inconsistent
with the best atmosphere for the human being. The air is nowhere else so
agreeable to me as it is in a barren New Mexican or Arizona desert at
the proper elevation. I do not know whether the San Diego climate would
be injured if the hills were covered with forest and the valleys were
all in