1 70 Life in the Open 



horrors on to the lake of literal despair ; some so high 

 that they appeared to support the very empyrean, and so 

 exact in their imitation of water-spouts that it was impos- 

 sible to disassociate them from the sham water on the 

 illusive lake. 



Once while crossing this valley which despite its 

 menacing character is to be a desert reclaimed and a rail- 

 road point of importance in the future, innumerable 

 sand-spouts appeared to join forces, forming a gigantic 

 column seemingly a mile in height. It was of a lurid, 

 copper tint, menacing in shape and colour, sweeping 

 along with the stride of the wind, its upper portion 

 whirling about as though in a vortex. 



Despite the disagreeable features of these desert 

 phenomena, their beauties, the grandeur of the effects, 

 more than repay one. What can be more beautiful than 

 the view from the desert near Palm Springs ? As night 

 draws on, the tops of the mountains are tipped with the 

 most brilliant vermilion, which grows deeper and more 

 firelike as day shortens, and all the time, out from the 

 countless cafions, cuts, and passes, creep deep shadows, 

 like living things, venturing out as the sun loses its 

 power. At first they flood the cafions, then flow down, 

 spreading out in ineffable tints, stealing out upon the 

 sands of the desert into its very heart until they fairly 

 fill it, and the great waste is a purple sea, awash with 

 the panoply of night At sunrise this strange trans- 

 formation scene is reversed. The tips of the range are 

 again bathed in vermilion and the shadows slink away, 



