Beyond the West: containing an account of two years' travel in the other half of our great continent far beyond the old West, on the plains, in the Rocky mountains, and picturesque parks of Colorado. Also, characteristic features of New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho ... Oregon, Utah, Nevada, and ... California, the end of the West ... the great continental railroad, together with the ... most wonderful natural scenery in the world .../ by George W. Pine.

BEYOND THE WEST.
that uncouth monster the sea-lion-weighlng, when
full grown, from two to five thousand pounds. We
saw on the rocks, not far from the shore, many of
these awkward creatures basking in the sun-some
appear pugnacious and very noisy.
Sl,me of the islands furnish superior advantages
for keeping large flocks of sheep, growing the very
best of wool. I was told that one man had a flock
of two hundred thousand.
The coast range of mountains holds the great Pacific
in its place, or rather several ranges of these mountains, parallel with each other. This range is from
two to ten thousand feet high, and from thirty to
forty miles wide. Between this and the Nevadr
mountain ranges lies the great Sacramento Valley
about five hundred miles long by fifty wide.
This now valley no doubt was once a great inland
ocean, which in process of time broke through the
coast range in the centre of the State, by wearing a
channel into the ocean over a mile wide. This openitig is known as the'" Golden Gate." Why this narrow gorge, from the bay to the ocean,-should receive
this name long before the discovery of gold, was a
study, for it had nothing to do with the discovery of
gold. I could get no other theory than this: As the
coast is approached from the ocean, the entrance has
the appearance of opening, like a gate; and as we
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