CHAPTER VII 



A DESERT RIDE: SEVEN PALMS TO THOUSAND PALM 



CANON 



An oasis aviary — Desert farmers and the non possumus — Poor 

 man, poor land — Two-Bunch Palms — A plucky woman-settler 



— Thirsty poultry — "Desert rat " and poet — Pottery fragments 



— San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains — Desert light- 

 houses and sunset — A morning of heat — Storm brewing — 

 Hospitable settlers and a phonograph — A thunder-storm on San 

 Jacinto — Abruptness of desert contours — Roof -like slopes — 

 Lilac lights and shadows — Questionable landmarks — Thousand 

 Palm Canon — Drought-mountains — Night visitors. 



MY plan on starting had been to make the first 

 day's march a few miles longer, and to camp 

 at the next water beyond Seven Palms. This spot, 

 known, somewhat uncouthly, as Two-Bunch Palms, 

 now became an easy objective for the second day: 

 for one's marches in desert country are figured from 

 water to water, be the distance little or great. The 

 wind had somewhat lessened by morning, gathering 

 breath for the next attack, so I lay at middling ease 

 for an hour, interested in the morning business of 

 the birds that made the grove a literal aviary. The 

 matted heads of the palms, with their dead hanging 

 fans, made the snuggest of roosts and was as full of 

 small sleepers as a boarding-school dormitory. These 

 now came bursting out in twos and threes, linnets, 

 sparrows, finches, buntings, totalling scores, with 

 an enthusiasm for breakfast that I soon found infec- 

 tious. They had the weather gauge of me there, how- 

 ever, for even in the best-sheltered corner it was 



