PALM SPRINGS TO SEVEN PALMS 91 



sizable stone, and no amount of dodging availed to 

 prevent every mouthful getting liberally sanded in 

 transit. The conversation was lively, yet it was not 

 a cheerful meal. 



On the present occasion, for a miracle, only a 

 harmless breeze was blowing. It was instructive to 

 note the effect of these sand-laden winds upon vege- 

 tation, and even rock. Wherever a fair-sized stone or 

 boulder stood in the windway, some thrifty shrub, 

 usually creosote or dalea, crouched in its shelter, 

 growing to leeward in a long streamer, like a quick- 

 set hedge. Some of these bushes were from ten to 

 fifteen feet long, with height and width strictly regu- 

 lated by the size of their rock protector. Any 

 attempt to extend by so much as an inch beyond 

 shelter was rendered hopeless by that deadly sand- 

 scour. 



In other cases, where some hardy, low-growing 

 shrub kept a foothold, a long dune had formed in the 

 rear where the check to the wind allowed the sand 

 to settle. Both hedges and dunes ran invariably to 

 eastward, following the course of the wind. For vari- 

 ety, here and there were creosotes with a grotesque 

 look of being on stilts, the soil having been gouged 

 away from the roots by the wind to the depth of 

 two feet or more. Many are the quaint comparisons 

 suggested by the postures of these wind-thrawn 

 plants. 



A yet more impressive token of the power of the 

 sand-blast is seen in the scarred and corrugated 

 faces of boulders. The rocks hereabouts are all of 

 the igneous kinds, but often differentiated, as geolo- 



