[...]... by the way-side, chapels on the hill; one hears the melodious bells, the call of the vine-dressers, the laughter of girls The contrast is as great from the Indians of the Mojave Desert, two types of which are here given, to the vine-dressers of the Santa Ana Valley Italy is the land of the imagination, but the sensation on first beholding it from the northern heights, aside from its associations of. .. by an Alpine pass never forgets the surprise and delight of the transition In an hour he is whirled down the slopes from the region of eternal snow to the verdure of spring or the ripeness of summer Suddenly—it may be at a turn in the road —winter is left behind; the plains of Lombardy are in view; the Lake of Como or Maggiore gleams below; there is a tree; there is an orchard; there is a garden; there... hundred feet below the Pacific The Point Arguilles, which is above Point Conception, by the aid of the outlying islands, deflects the cold current from the north off the coast of Southern California, and the mountain ranges from Point Conception east divide the State of California into two climatic regions, the southern having more warmth, less rain and fog, milder winds, and less variation of daily temperature... and poetry, can be repeated in our own land by whoever will cross the burning desert of Colorado, or the savage wastes of the Mojave wilderness of stone and sage-brush, and come suddenly, as he must come by train, into the bloom of Southern California Let us study a little the physical conditions The bay of San Diego is about three hundred miles east of San Francisco The coast line runs south-east,... is The principal suction is caused by the rising of heated air from the great desert On the top of old Grayback (in San Bernardino) one can feel it [this breeze] setting westward, while in the cañons, 6000 feet below, it is blowing eastward All over Southern California the conditions of this breeze are about the same, the great Mojave Desert and the valley of the San Joaquin above operating in the. .. sundown, when the air on the desert cools and descends, the current will change and come the other way, and flood these western slopes with an air as pure as that of the Sahara and nearly as dry BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF RIVERSIDE "The air, heated on the western slopes by the sea, would by rising produce considerable suction, which could be filled only from the sea, but that alone would not make the sea-breeze... with vines; the singing of birds is heard; the air is gracious; the slopes are terraced, and covered with vineyards; great sheets of silver sheen in the landscape mark the growth of the olive; the dark green orchards of oranges and lemons are starred with gold; the lusty fig, always a temptation as of old, leans invitingly over the stone wall; everywhere are bloom and color under the blue sky; there are... than the climate of Central California to the north.[A] Other striking climatic conditions are produced by the daily interaction of the Pacific Ocean and the Colorado Desert, infinitely diversified in minor particulars by the exceedingly broken character of the region —a jumble of bare mountains, fruitful foot-hills, and rich valleys It would be only from a balloon that one could get an adequate idea of. .. and then curves south-easterly about two hundred and fifty miles to the Mexican coast boundary, the extreme south-west limits of the United States, a few miles below San Diego This coast, defined by these two limits, has a southern exposure on the sunniest of oceans Off this coast, south of Point Conception, lies a chain of islands, curving in position in conformity with the shore, at a distance of. .. 157 LAGUNA—FROM THE SOUTH-EAST 159 CHURCH AT LAGUNA 164 TERRACED HOUSES, PUEBLO OF LAGUNA 167 GRAND CAÑON ON THE COLORADO —VIEW FROM POINT SUBLIME 171 INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH AT LAGUNA 174 GRAND CAÑON OF THE COLORADO —VIEW OPPOSITE POINT SUBLIME 179 TOURISTS IN CAÑON 183 THE COLORADO GRAND CAÑON OF THE COLORADO —VIEW FROM THE HANSE TRAIL 191 OUR ITALY CHAPTER I HOW OUR ITALY IS MADE The traveller who .