THE DESERT 



Sun shafts. 



The beauty 

 of sunlight. 



even as I watch the tallest tower of all is struck 

 with a bright fawn color. It is the high point 

 to catch the first shaft of the sun. Quickly the 

 light spreads downward until the whole ridge is 

 tinged by it, and the abrupt sides of porphyry 

 begin to glow under it. It is not long before 

 great shafts of light alternating with shadow 

 stretch down the plain ahead of me. The sun 

 is streaming through the tops of the eastern 

 mountains and the sharp pointed pinnacles are 

 cutting shadows in the broad beam of light. 



That beam of light ! Was there ever any- 

 thing so beautiful ! How it flashes its color 

 through shadow, how it gilds the tops of the 

 mountains and gleams white on the dunes of 

 the desert ! In any land what is there more 

 glorious than sunlight ! Even here in the 

 desert, where it falls fierce and hot as a rain of 

 meteors, it is the one supreme beauty to which 

 all things pay allegiance. The beast and the 

 bird are not too fond of its heat and as soon as 

 the sun is high in the heavens they seek cover 

 in the canyons ; but for all that the chief glory 

 of the desert is its broad blaze of omnipresent 

 light. 



Yes, there is animal and bird life here though 

 it is not always apparent unless you look for it. 



