THE CONQUEST OF 

 THE DESERT 



CHAPTER I 



THE ADVANCE OF THE DESERT 



" Thou shalt not destroy the trees ... for the tree of 

 the field is man's life " (Deuteronomy xx. 19). 



The last Romance of Agriculture, the most 

 daring of its many triumphs, is the Conquest 

 of the Desert. Ever since the day when the 

 immortal Pioneer stood on the Mount of 

 Pisgah, looked backward over the bitter waters 

 and forward to the utmost sea, the sons of 

 men have pressed onward to the Promised 

 Land. What is the loadstone that draws the 

 peasant and the peer from shieling or stately 

 home to die a lonely death on the frontiers of 

 civilisation ? It may be Commerce or Dis- 

 covery, the Gospel or the Flag, or perchance a 

 thoughtless woman's wile : these — all these — 

 have brought men to the Never-Never Country, 

 and so the trail is blazed for those who care to 

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