200 



THE DESERT 



mind you that yon are still in a desert land, and 

 that the bench and the arid plain are really a 

 part of the great waste itself. 



Nature never designed more fascinating coun- 

 try to ride over than these plains and mesas 

 lying up and back from the desert basin. You 

 may be alone without necessarily being lone- 

 some. And everyone rides here with the feel- 

 ing that he is the first one that ever broke into 

 this unknown land, that he is the original dis- 

 coverer ; and that this new world belongs to 

 him by right of original exploration and con- 

 quest. Life becomes simplified from necessity. 

 It begins all over again, starting at the primitive 

 stage. There is a reversion to the savage. Civ- 

 ilization, the race, history, philosophy, art 

 how very far away and how very useless, even 

 contemptible, they seem. What have they to do 

 with the air and the sunlight and the vastness of 

 the plateau ! Nature and her gift of buoyant life 

 are overpowering. The joy of mere animal ex- 

 istence, the feeling that it is good to be alive 

 and face to face with Nature's self, drives every- 

 thing else into the background. 



And what air one breathes on these plains 

 what wonderful air ! It is exhilarating to the 

 whole body ; it brightens the senses and sweet- 



