In Tamal Land

IN TAMAL LAND

even obliterated, will spare this grand, majestic forest in which beauty now reigns supreme.
Bending low over the little stream which winds through this canyon huge sprays of azaleas filled the air with their delicate perfume; on the banks lacy wood warriors and the hardy sword-ferns mingled in graceful profusion, while the flickering sunlight filtering aslant through the tree tops fell on the transparent hazel leaves lending a soft, green glint to a neighboring pool which rippled every now and then by the action of numerous trout catching flies on its surface.
Wandering beneath these perennial columns, these huge monoliths of whose birth there is no record, one feels as if treading the grandest of cathedral

AMONG THE REDWOODS.

aisles, and that in truth "The groves were God's first temples" and "Solitude is the veritable audience chamber of the Creator."
No echo follows our footsteps on the soft needles and oxalis and save for the murmuring of the little stream and the occasional calling of a mourning dove in the tree tops above there is no sound. Here, alone in these solitudes, the higher self--the soul--strikes off its shackles, and expands to the very infinitude of things, through nature to the Infinite.

IN TAMAL LAND

Near the southeastern shores of Marin lies the largest and most picturesque of the three islands which adorn San Francisco Bay. Though lawfully a portion of Marin County, Angel Island, separated from the mainland by Raccoon Straits, besides being set aside as a Government reserve, is therefore seldom classed with the County, and usually ranks with her sister islands, Alcatraz and Yerba Buena.
But a sketch of Marin, however cursory, would be incom-

PRIMAL SOLITUDES.

IN TAMAL LAND

plete without her southern isle, for besides the United States Barracks, situated on the western part of the Island, there is located in a northern cove the Federal quarantine station, that most necessary adjunct of San Francisco, which prevents contagion by quenching the pestilence often brought to our shores from the Orient and South American ports.
   Besides its present significance the Island has another and far older claim on our attention.
   In the summer of 1775, Juan de Ayala, a lieutenant of the Royal Spanish Navy, was given a commission from Junipero Serra and Bucareli, the Mexican Viceroy, to proceed to "the arm of the sea" lying north of Monterey, which had been twice viewed by the padres from the land, to ascertain if it were a canal or bay, and make a survey of it.
   Pursuant to these instructions Ayala cautiously crept up the Coast and on the ninth day sighted the narrow passage which is now known the world over as the Golden Gate.
   A crude launch was sent to explore the opening, which was found to be deep and without obstructions. By the time the launch returned it had grown dark, nevertheless Ayala headed

IN THE CANYON.