SAN FRANCISCO BAY

Not the Baghdad but the Bay commands attention here. The controversy still rages about its actual discovery and local historians are still reluctant to submit a definitive answer. Was it Francis Drake or Gaspar de Portola? There is evidence to accord the honor to each. Nevertheless the striking characteristics of the Bay, its size, its depth, its tides and its moods persist. In a prosy, often prosaic, style the author supplies a volume of facts explaining all facets of the Bay and its effect on the land-lubbers nearby. The fog-horns, the psychologically precarious existence of the light-housekeeper, life under and over the water, the commercial value of its safety and its centrality, the symbol of the obsolescent ferry boat-these features are an intrinsic part of the Baghdad which it vitalizes and never harms. The abundance of geological, nautical, and marine information might alienate prospective local-colorateurs.