204 



THE DESERT 



base, and in time the whole mass rises on its 

 Flattening sides and sinks somewhat in the centre, until 



doivn to the . . . 



plain. a mere rise of ground is all that remains. So 

 perish the hills that we are accustomed to speak 

 of as " everlasting." It is merely another illus- 

 tration of Nature's method in the universe. 

 She is as careless of the individual hill or moun- 

 tain as of the individual man, animal, or flower. 

 All are beaten into dust. But the species is 

 more enduring, better preserved. Year by year 

 Nature is tearing down, washing down, pulling 

 to pieces range after range ; but year by year 

 she is also heaving up stupendous mountains 

 like the Alps, and crackling with a mighty 

 squeeze the earth's crust into the ridges of the 

 Eockies and the Andes. 



The foot-hills are just what their name indi- 

 cates the hills that lie at the foot of the moun- 

 tains. They are not usually detached from the 

 main range like so many of the lomas, but are a 

 part of it ; and while not exactly the buttresses 

 of the mountains, yet they remind one of those 

 architectural supports of cathedral walls. The 

 foot-hills themselves are perhaps as firmly sup- 

 ported as the mountains for very often they 

 stretch down from the mountains in a long 

 ridge like a spine, and from the spine are 



Mountain- 

 making. 



The 

 foot-hills. 



