ii8 CALIFORNIA DESERT TRAILS 



mer) on the mountains are seen here in sharp bar- 

 rancas and ravines filled with water-worn debris. 

 The curiously seamed face shown by these hills at 

 a few miles' distance becomes on near approach a 

 wilderness of rugged gullies that meet and cross at 

 sharp angles and at gradients steep enough to make 

 the short climb quite laborious. Huge blocks of rock, 

 carried by storm-hydraulics from the higher back 

 ranges, lie embedded in the local clay. Vegetation is 

 scanty except for the flourishing clusters of palms. 



Standing in picturesque fashion in alcoves and on 

 benches, these suggest, even to a mind with no bent 

 for real-estate speculation, the thought — What 

 ideal sites for houses! From the shade of these ele- 

 vated groves the fortunate owner would look out 

 over the wide, sunny levels to where in the south the 

 Salton Sea matches the turquoise sky, or, more 

 westerly, to where the great peaks of Santa Rosa, 

 San Jacinto, and San Gorgonio rise in fine succession. 

 There is attraction, too, in the thought that under 

 the progenitors of these palms, which mark the shore- 

 line of the ancient sea, the Earliest Californian may 

 have moored his canoe while he landed to feast on 

 prehistoric clam and turtle. 



In one alcove a recent hurricane had overthrown 

 a number of the palms, strewing the ground as if 

 with ruined monuments. From the eagle feathers 

 that littered the place it seemed that the bird of soli- 

 tude finds these silent groves with their vast outlook 

 a congenial resort. 



Continuing toward Indio I came to one of the 

 young date plantations that in the last few years 



