Deserts 



out check over half a continent or so, and with only an 

 annual inch or two of rain to depend upon, or perhaps 

 with water buried 20 to 30 feet below the soil. 



These " brave, poor things " are not, as a rule, beauti- 

 ful. Some are exceedingly small, woody shrublets, 

 densely branched, with every twig or leaf ending in a 

 sharp thorn or spine. Others are covered with close 

 cotton-wool or grey hairs. Cactus and the succulent 

 euphorbias, and other fleshy plants are also characteristic 

 of desert conditions. 



The leafless, woody branchesof the broom-like Retama, 

 the hard wiry tussocks of Halfagrass, spinifexes, and 

 especially thorny acacias belong to the desert-fringe, 

 but their roots, probably in all cases, manage to reach 

 moist soil or water, which lies 20 feet or more below the 

 surface. 



There is also an interesting group which grow in the 

 desert, but only when it is, for a few days, not a desert. 



After a shower of rain a multitude of tiny plants, 

 with brilliant flowers, suddenly cover the surface. Three 

 or four days of splendid sunshine sees these ephemerals 

 spring up, blossom, set their seed, and wither away into 

 impalpable dust. The seed remains patiently awaiting 

 until, after a year perhaps, another shower calls into 

 being a new generation. 



In the Karoo, which is not quite so unmitigated a 

 desert as the Kalahari or Sahara, the change produced 

 by rain is enchanting. 



The faintest tinge of green or grey spreads over the 

 arid, brownish yellow of its surface. Soon it is studded 

 all over with yellows, rich reds, whites, and other brilliant 

 colours of Pelargoniums, Mesembryanthemums, Poly- 

 galas, and hundreds of other flowers. 



One is apt to think that the very stones have become 

 alive. 



171 



