DESERT SKY AND CLOUDS 



105 



see all the spectrum colors arranged in order. 

 Pale hues they are but they are all there. Rain- 

 bows by day and rainbows by night ! Radiant 

 circles of colored light not one but many. 

 Arches above arches not two or three but five 

 solar bows in the sky at one time ! What 

 strange tales come out of the wilderness ! But 

 how much stranger, how much more weird and 

 extraordinary the things that actually happen 

 in this desert land. 



High in the zenith rides the desert moon. 

 What a flood of light comes from it ! What 

 pale, phosphorescent light ! Under it miles and 

 miles of cactus and grease-wood are half re- 

 vealed, half hidden ; and far away against the 

 dark mountains the dunes of the desert shine 

 white as snow-clad hills in December. The 

 stars are forth, the constellations in their places, 

 the planets large and luminous, yet none of 

 them has much color or sparkle. The moon 

 dims them somewhat, but even without the 

 moon they have not the twinkle of the stars in 

 higher, colder latitudes. The desert air seems 

 to veil their lustre somewhat, and yet as points 

 of light set in that purple dome of sky how 

 beautiful they are ! 



Lying down there in the sands of the desert, 



Rings and 



rainbows. 



Moonlight* 



Start. 



