70 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



"From the desert," he replied; "it is mesquit." 



"So there are other trees on the desert besides 

 yuccas?" I returned. 



The Professor laughed ' softly in an indulgent 

 way. 



"There's more on the desert, my boy," said he, 

 "than is dreamt of in tenderfoot philosophy. I tell 

 you what let's do. You are fond of plant life. It 

 is now the middle of March. Let's take the camera 

 and go to the desert on a tree hunt. It is less ex- 

 citing than gunning for bear, but for the contempla- 

 tive mind it holds attractions, and is much less dan- 

 gerous." 



And that is how we came to be, a week or so later, 

 on the Colorado Desert which, by the way, is not 

 in the State of Colorado as the name might imply, 

 but in the southeastern corner of California, just 

 across from Arizona of which it seems naturally a 

 part. Besides the Professor and myself, there was 

 Mr. Carl Eytel, an artist who for many years has 

 painted up and down this desert and in a sense made 

 it his own, for he knows as few white men do its ins 

 and outs, its terrors and its latent loveliness, its 

 Indians and its floating population of prospectors 

 and cowboys and "desert rats." To the inexperi- 

 enced traveler on the desert, the companionship of 

 one familiar with its trails and watering places is 



