THE LAND OF LITTLE RAIN 



growing silky hairs, exuding viscid gum. 

 The wind, which has a long sweep, harries 

 and helps them. It rolls up dunes about 

 the stocky stems, encompassing and pro- 

 tective, and above the dunes, which may 

 be, as with the mesquite, three times as 

 high as a man, the blossoming twigs flour- 

 ish and bear fruit. 



There are many areas in the desert 

 where drinkable water lies within a few 

 feet of the surface, indicated by the mes- 

 quite and the bunch grass (Sporobolus airo- 

 ides). It is this nearness of unimagined 

 help that makes the tragedy of desert 

 deaths. It is related that the final break- 

 down of that hapless party that gave Death 

 Valley its forbidding name occurred in a 

 locality where shallow wells would have 

 saved them. But how were they to know 

 that ? Properly equipped it is possible to 

 8 



