LIGHT, AIR, AND COLOR 



89 



dark -green pines in the mountain scenery of 

 Norway. 



The sands, again, form vast fields of local 

 color, and, indeed, the beds of sand and gravel, 

 the dunes, the ridges, and the mesas, make up 

 the most widespread local hue on the desert. 

 The sands are not " golden/' except under 

 peculiar circumstances, such as when they are 

 whirled high in the air by the winds, and then 

 struck broadside by the sunlight. Lying quietly 

 upon the earth they are usually a dull yellow. 

 In the morning light they are often gray, at 

 noon frequently a bleached yellow, and at sun- 

 set occasionally pink or saffron-hued. Wavering 

 heat and mirage give them temporary coloring 

 at times that is beautifully unreal. They then 

 appear to undulate slightly like the smooth 

 surface of a summer sea at sunset ; and the 

 colors shift and travel with the undulations. 

 The appearance is not common ; perfect calm, 

 a flat plain, and intense heat being apparently 

 the conditions necessary to its existence. 



The rocks of the upper peaks and those that 

 make the upright walls of mountains, though 

 small in body of color, are perhaps more varied 

 in hue than either the sands or the vegetation, 

 and that, too, without primary notes as in the 



Color of 

 sands. 



Sands in 

 mirage. 



