The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-07-14
ON CAPE San LUCAS.
An Early SchO0l-daY Idea is
Rudely Shattered.
TITS NOT THE JUMPING-OFF PLACE
RuleIy, Roughly Picturesque-The Arroyo de
las PalmitaS-The Village of All
Saints-The Old Mission.

SPECIAL Correspondence of The HER
AID. l-Who5does not remember his school
boy idea, engendered by the biographies Of
those days, that Cape San Lucas (then
enormously set down as the extreme point
% the California peninsula), was
THE VERY JUMPING OFF PLACE
OF all creation-the widest, strangest, and
least-likely- to-be-visited spot on the sur
face of Gods green earth!
AS the good ship Newbern neared that
particular locality, in the gray twilight of
= March morning, the old school-day belief,
that about the Last spot in the universe had
been reached, returned to your correspond
cnt in full force. wish I could make you
see how queer it looks-the apex of this
extremely long and narrow tongue of land
whose like does not exist anywhere on the
globe. The cold black-and-white of ink
and paper can never do faintest justice to
Il, nor could the most vivid painting in
oils: not on account Of SURPRISING beauty
or attractiveness, for it does not possess
these qualities in an eminent degree-but
because of the grotesque formations and
strange ColOrs and wonderful combinations
of light and shade-the comparatively I'M
Inhabited land and the teeming ocean life
on every side-the air of age and mystery
aEd unbrol1en tranquility that envelopes
all things above aud below, as if this little
corner of the earth's surface had been
somehow forgotten and left out of the gen
eral plan, remaining through all the ages
as when fresh from the hands of the Gre
ator.
TO Oblige me, please get map and look
up the surroundings; it is always so much
better, you know, when reading of unfre-
quented spots, to have ones bearings well
IN view, and at least the general outlines
of the locality. You viii see that the pen
iusula is not sharpened off like Lead pen
Gil, but that it is really wider at the blunt
point than a few miles farther up. On the
western side of the apex lies Cape San
Lucas; and on the eastern, or Gulf of Cal
ifornia side-a tritle farther north, as the
southern shOre-lineinclines slightly upward
is La Paz, the ancient capitol.
n reality, Cape San Lucas is
NOT THE soUTnERNMosT POINT,
but later surveys have established that the
distinction properly belongs to Cape False
"a nearby rocky bluff, fifty feet high,
against whose outlying rocks the sea breaks
heavily even in 1airest weather, At any
rate, Los FraileS (''The Friars'') as those
magnificentIy picturesque rocks are called
that stand out alone at sea Just below the
eud OF the peninsula, like monks with
white CoWlS drawn over their heads, mark
the extreme southern limit Of land-a fit
ting terminus to a strange country. One
Of them is a perfect sugar loaf in shape,
800 feet high, with great arch way on its
eastern side, through which the ocean
rushes with tremendous force. The east
can Fraile is not quite 50 tail, but its sides
are perpendicular cliffs, of aspect so for
bidding that even the birds seem to fly shy
of it. These fantastic monuments. which,
once seen, are not likely to be forgotten,
are said to be of granite, their cnallIy white
appearance coming from the vast deposits
of guauO that have been accommodating
through centuries Unaumbcred.
I saw them first at day break, when
winds were sharp and cold even in these
Summer regions, and the meaSureless ocean,
stretching before and behind and away
over to China, Japan and Australia, showed
siate-cOlor N the dim light, and mountains,
rocks and islands looked like the ghosts Of
themselves. All the way down from Mag
dalena bay the Islands are many, some
mere barren rocks, others sparsely covered
with grass, Cacti and stunted trees. Part
Of the way is very beautiful, as our course
winds in and out among them, or close to
shore with some big island between US and
the open sea. The shores are volcanic, and
doubtless so are the islands; everywhere
hills and mountains, mountains and hills
mp some time when the
EARTH WAS BOILING WITH INTERNAL HEAT,
and the bubbles suddenly cooled even the
hills themselves being covered all over with
smaller bubbles.
As the day advances wonderful shadows
appear upon the mountains and strange
shades of color, while fieecy patches of
clouds float below their summit, and the
>"ean, grown bluegreen, looks smooth as
4 mill pond except where a low line of sill
very breakers curls softly over dangerous
reefs, that have lured many a mariner to
destruction by their innocent appearance.
There seem to be three distinct ranges of
mountains, one behind anothe'; the first,
snow white, being the coast bluffs of bare
cliff or shining sand: the second, immedi-
ately back of it, a line of high and broken
hills, which, being covered with scanty YER
GGre, look bronze and blue; and the third
the great mountains beyond La Paz and
the sharp peaks of the Sierra de Ia Victoria,
purple and amethyst in the hazy distance.
In the latter range, Mount Aqua is the
most cons picuOus feature-an almost per-
pendicular column, sharpened OF to a slen-
der spire. Near its summit nearly six
thousand feet above, is said to be very
deep lake of clear, cold water, to which
herds of deer and other wild animals resort
in great numbers.
Five ullG5 uOEJu VI OLG JOluJ CdlleO
LObOs, (named after the IobO mdrinO ''she
wolff or seal)-the northwestern point of
q promOntory rising abruptly to height of
nearly eight hundred feet-is the ARROYO
de las Palmitas, which all tourists should
visit, but place which they cannot see IN
less cruising these shores in a small coast
ing vessel, as the larger steamers do not
attempt to anchor anywhere in that neigh
bOrhOOd. 1t would seem that the little
smacks have the best time of it in these
waters in spite of reefs and sunken rocks,
because the ocean floor hereabouts appears
30 be as irregular as the face of the land
above. Though there are com paratiyely
few places where the larger craft can ap-
Proach the shore IN safety leads have to be
constantly used to
DETERMINE THE DEPTH OF WATER,
which may be twenty feet and may be
two hundred and fifty fathoms within the
space Of few lengths Of the ship; and es-
pecially is it necessary before casting
anchor, or that useful article may be lost
forever in some unfathomed abyss. The
Arroyo de las Palmitas C'river of little
palms"), is u deep gorge with a stream run
ming through it, with groves CT splendid |
palm trees at It's mouth and extending /
along either bank. A beautiful valley,
dedicated by the piOus natives TO all saints,
runs inland, to which the Todos Santos
river brings a never-failing supply of run /
ming water. The village OF All Saints is on .
the banks Of the river of the same name. /
about two miles from its mouth. To reach |
it, one must land at Todos point, from |
whence road leads to it over broiling |
sand bank. But don't expect any hacks to
meet you here, or even a lumber wagon, or