s to Point Lobos beyond Carmel village, a rocky
promontory running out like a wedge-shaped plateau into the sea. One
approaches the sea across exquisite green, turfy spaces, shaded by pine
trees, to find the point of the wedge far above the water, cut by rocky
and awesome gashes into which the waves run with a long rush and against
whose walls they boom continually. The quiet woods of Point Lobos do not
prepare one for the magnificence of its outlook and the wonderful sight
of its great rocks rising ruggedly and precipitously far above the
water. I have seen the entire three hundred miles of the French and
Italian Riviera, having motored all along that enchanting coast; and I
am free to say that Point Lobos is as fine a bit of scenery as one will
find, not only on the Pacific Coast but along the Mediterranean shore.

Point Lobos was purchased a number of years ago by a Pacific Grove
gentleman who had an eye for its rare beauty and grandeur, and who has
built for himself a modest home on a green meadow at the entrance to the
promontory. A small admission fee is charged for the Point, largely to
exclude those who in former days, when the Point was free to
excursionists, abused this privilege.

The owner has established on a little cove a short distance from his
house an abalone canning factory. Here the Japanese and other divers
bring their boat loads of this delicious shellfish. Monterey Bay is the
home of the abalone and it has been so ruthlessly fished for that new
laws have had to be made to protect it. The big, soft creature, as large
as a tea plate, fastens itself to rocks and other surfaces, its one
shell protecting it from above. The diver slips under it his iron
spatula, and by a quick and skillful twist detaches it from its firm
anchorage. Abalone soup has a delicate flavor, really superior to clam
soup. Both the exterior and the lining of the abalone shell have most
exquisite coloring and are capable of a high polish. In the lining of
the shell there is often found the beautiful blister or abalone pearl,
formed by the same process as the oyster pearl, the animal throwing out
a secretion at the point where it is irritated. The result is a blister
on the smooth lining of the shell which when cut out and polished shows
beautiful coloring, ranging from satiny yellow to changing greens. We
spent an hour in wandering about the canning factory, looking over heaps
of cast-off shells, admiring their beautiful lining, an