Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-07-20
JUMPIKG.OFF PLACE OF CREATION.
HOW IT LOOKS AT THE TIP-END OF
THE CALIFORNIA PENINSULA.
One of the Most Remarkable Places on
the Whole Pacific Coast
Los Frailes.

Especial Correspondence of the REooRD-U UNION
LA PAz (Baja California;, 1889.
Who does not remember his school-boy
belief engendered in the geography classes
of those days, that Cape st. Lucas then
enormously set down as the extreme point
of this peninsula), was the very end of all
creation-the widest, strangest and least
likely to be visited spot on the surface of
Gods green earth?
As the good ship Newbern neared that
particular locality. in the gray twilight of
morning last March, the old school-day
idea, that about the last spot in the uni
verse had been reached, returned to your
correspondent in full force. l wish | could
make you see how queer it looks-the
apex of this extremely long and barren
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 it, nor could the most
vivid painting in oils; not on account OF
beauty or attractiyeness, but because ofthe
grotesque and strange colorS and wonder
full combinations of hight and shade-the
comparatively uninhabited land and the
teeming ocean-life on every side-the air
of antiquity, and mystery and unbroken
tranquility that envelopes all things above
and below, as if this little corner of the
earth's surface had been somehow forgot
ten in the general plan and left through
all the ages as when fresh from the hand
of the Creator.
To oblige me, please get map and look
up the surroundings. 1t is always SO much
better, you know, when reading of unfre-
quented places, to have ones bearings we'll
In view, and at least the general outlines
of the locality. You will observe that the
peninsula is not sharpened off like lead
pencil, but that it is really narrower few
miles above than at the blunt point. On
the western side of the apex is Cape San Lu-
cas-; on the eastern, or Gulf of California
side-a tritie further north, as the southern
shore-line inclines slightly upwards La
La Paz.
THE ANCIENT CAPITAL,
While Cape Falso-a nearby rocky bluff,
fifty feet high, against whose outlying rocks
the sea breaks heavily, even in the fairest
weather-is in reality the southernmost
point, instead of Cape San Lucas.
At any rate, those magnifcently pict-
uresque rocks, Los Frailes ("The Friars v J.,
that stand out alone at sea, Just below the
end of the peninsula, like monks with
white cowls drawn over their heads, mark
the extreme limit of the land-a fitting
end to strange country. One of them is
perfect sugar-loaf in shape, three hun
dred feet high, with great archway on its
eastern side through which the ocean
rushes with tremendous force. The east
ern Fraile is not quite so tall, but its sides
are sheer cliffs, of aspect so forbidding that
even the birds fly shy of it. These fan
tastic monuments are said to be of solid
granite, their chalky-white appearance
coming from vast deposits of guano that
have been accommodating through untold
centuries; and, once seen, they are not
likely to be forgotten.
| saw them first at daybreak, when even
in these summer regions the winds are
sharp and cold and the measureless ocean,
stretching before and behind, and away
over to China and the Orient, looked slate
colored in the dim light, and mountains,
rocks and islands seemed like the ghosts
of themselves.
the islands are nunerous-some mere bar
rem rocks, others thickly covered with
grass, cacti and stunted trees Part of our
route 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 the islands are also. Hills and
mountains, mountains and hills, are every
where-looking as if they had dubbed up
and suddenly cooled at some time when
the earth was boiling with internal heat
the hills themselves being covered all over
with smaller bubbles or hillocks.
As the day advanced, wonderful shadows
and strange tints of color appeared upon
the mountains, while feecy patches of
clouds hoated below their SUBMITS and
the ocean, grown blue-green, looked as
smooth as mill-pond, except where low
line Of silvery breakers curled softly over
the dangerous reefs that have lured many
mariners to destruction by their innocent
appearance. There seems to be
THREE DISTINCT RANGES OF MOUNTAINS
One behind another. The frst-snowy
Withholding the coast bluffs of bare cliff
or shining sand; the second, Immediately
back of il, a line of high and broken hills
whose scanty verdure makes them bronze
and blue; and the third-the lofty mount
aims beyond La Paz, and the sharp peaks
of the Sierra de la MISUNDERSTANDING pur-
pie and amethyst in the hazy distance In
The latter range the most conspicuous peak
is Mount Aqua, an almost perpendicular
column, tapering to slender spire. Near
its summit, 5000 feet above, is a very deep
lake of clear, cold water, which is said to
be frequented by vast numbers of deer and
other wild animals.
A little to the north of Cape San Lucas,
FIVE miles from Lobos Point manned after
the Lobo- Marine, "sea-wolf,o or seal, that
abound in the vicinity, promontory ris-
ing abruptly to hight of nearly 500 feet,
is the Arroyo de las Palmitas, place
which all tourists should visit, but which
they cannot see unless cruising these
shores in a coasting vessel, as larger
steamers do not attempt to anchor any
where in the neighborhood. 1t would
seem that smacks and other small craft
have the best time of it in these waters,
In spite of deadly reefs and sunken rocks,
because the ocean floor hereabouts appears
to be as irregular and unaccountable as the
face OF the land above. Though there are
comparatively few places where large YES
sells can approach the shore in safety, leads
have to be constantly used to determine
the depth Of water, which may be twenty
feet or $50 fathors within the length of
half mile; and especially is the precau-
ton necessary before casting anchor, as
that important part of the ships furnish
ing may be lost forever in some unfath-
omed abyss.
The Arroyo de las Palmitas ('' gorge Of
little palms y is picturesque ravine with
a stream running through it, and groves
of palm trees at Its mouth and extending
along either bank. 1t leads to a lovely
valley, the Todos Santos, to which a never
failing supply of running water is brought
bv little river, which the pious natives
- l. - .ftn- al Ala. Stint r.