FLOWERS OF THE DESERT 21 



composed of hardy organisms, which an ap- 

 prenticeship from days unthinkably ancient 

 had habituated to their most difficult condi- 

 tions of existence. If, somewhere near the 

 margin of the great central plain, we happened 

 to cross the track of a vagrant thunder-storm, 

 we would see myriads of delicately-petalled 

 blossoms miraculously surviving, like the 

 Faithful Rulers of Babylon in the Fiery 

 Furnace. On the flank of some flaming sand- 

 dune we would find the tulip-like blooms of 

 the Gethyllis flourishing in leafless splendour. 

 Their corollas were of crystalline white 

 splashed with vivid crimson; deep in each 

 goblet lay the clustered anthers, a convoluted 

 mass of glowing gold. Is this flower a grail, 

 bearing beauty too ineffable to die, through an 

 arid aeon from one cycle of fertility to another? 

 Sometimes our course led over tracts of sand 

 sand so light and powdery that the foot sank 

 into it ankle-deep at every step. Occasionally 

 we crossed high, abrupt ridges of black or 

 chocolate-hued rock, separated from each 

 other by gorges so deep that except at noon- 

 tide, no sunbeam penetrated them. But 

 usually our course lay across plains, infinite 

 in extent. In the Summer season such were 

 covered with heavy-headed shocks of "toa" 



