the
old navigators thought their vessels were on fire when they noticed it.
It gives a luminous appearance to the water at night.

On one side of Santa Barbara is a great table-land, called the _Mesa_,
where there is always a sea-breeze that blows across fields of grain and
fragrant grass. That would be a beautiful place to live, but there is no
water. The experiment of artesian wells is about being tried.

From the _Mesa_ we looked off to the channel islands,--Santa Cruz, Santa
Rosa, San Miguel, and Anacapa,--bold, rocky, and picturesque. Anacapa
was formerly a great resort for the seal and otter; and the natives from
Alaska came down to hunt them, and collected large quantities of their
valuable skins. The island is of sandstone, all honeycombed with
cavities of different sizes, sometimes making beautiful arches. There is
no water on this island, and only cactus and coarse grass grow there.
Others of the group have wood and water, and settlements of fishermen.
On some of them, interesting historical relics have been
discovered,--supposed to be the remains of a temple to the sun, with
idols and images. There are also beautiful fossils and corals and
abalone shells.

It was hard to make up our minds to leave so lovely a place; but as I
looked back, the last morning, to fix the picture of it in my mind, I
saw the little white clouds that come before the hot wind, rising above
the mountains, and was glad that we were going. Two immense columns of
smoke rose out of the canyons, and stood over the place, like genii. In
the dry weather it seems that the mountains are almost always on fire,
which modifies what is called the natural climate of Santa Barbara, so
as to make it very uncomfortable. Its admirers must come from some worse
place,--probably often from the interior; no one from Puget Sound ever
praises it. We met several families from that region; and they were all
anxious to get back to the clear mountain atmosphere of their northern
climate, which is as equable as that of Santa Barbara, though far
different in character.

We saw there some Chinese quite unlike any that we have met before. We
have heard that most of those who come to the Pacific Coast are of an
inferior kind, chiefly Tartars. There we saw some quite handsome ones,
who had more of an Arab look, and had also elegant manners,--one,
especially, who had a little office near us. On the birthday of the
Emperor of China, his room was ornamented with a pi