Nonfiction. Two hundred years ago herds of elk and antelope dotted the hills of the San Francisco-Monterey Bay area. Grizzly bears lumbered down to the creeks to fish for salmon and steelhead trout. From the vast marshlands, geese, ducks, and other birds rose in thick clouds "with a sound like that of a hurricane." This land of "inexpressible fertility," as one early explorer described it, supported one of the densest Indian populations in all of North America. Clearly and accessibly written, uniquely alive and at the same time informed, this well-loved classic vividly recreates the lost world of the Indian people who lived here such a short time ago.