THE LAND OF LITTLE RAIN 



traces. The sculpture of the hills here is 

 more wind than water work, though the 

 quick storms do sometimes scar them past 

 many a year's redeeming. In all the West- 

 ern desert edges there are essays in min- 

 iature at the famed, terrible Grand Canon, 

 to which, if you keep on long enough in 

 this country, you will come at last. 



Since this is a hill country one expects 

 to find springs, but not to depend upon 

 them ; for when found they are often brack- 

 ish and unwholesome, or maddening, slow 

 dribbles in a thirsty soil. Here you find 

 the hot sink of Death Valley, or high roll- 

 ing districts where the air has always a 

 tang of frost. Here are the long heavy 

 winds and breathless calms on the tilted 

 mesas where dust devils dance, whirling up 

 into a wide, pale sky. Here you have no 

 rain when all the earth cries for it, or quick 

 5 



