CHAPTER IX 



A DESERT RIDE: COACHELLA VALLEY TO PINON 



WELL 



The "Coral Reef" — Sand- wraiths — Belts of desert vegetation — 

 Vanished races — En route for Virginia Dale — Mexican camps 



— Sunrise — The Mud-hills — Erosion again — Taciturnity of 

 Western men — Heat and drought — The sidewinder — Scene of 

 a tragedy — Hot drinks — Wholesale suicide of bees — A kindly 

 "freighter" — Arsenic water — Joshua trees, junipers, and pinons 



— A "salted" mine — Hard pulling — View of the Mojave — 

 The desert's challenge — Piiion Wells. 



A FEW miles to the south of Indio there is a 

 rocky outpost of the mountain wall known (of 

 course incorrectly) as the "Coral Reef." A ride over 

 to view it at close range proved well worth while. 

 At intervals I came upon farms with fields of alfalfa, 

 acres of grapes or melons, and rows of thrifty young 

 dates. Between farm and farm lay stretches of un- 

 touched desert more dreary than ever by contrast 

 with the cultivated areas. In the distance pillars of 

 dust, the genii of the whirlwind, moved in ghostly 

 dance across the view, like dervishes ceaselessly 

 whirling. 



The haze of summer had by now settled on the 

 desert, and to-day it almost obscured the mountains. 

 San Jacinto's top was marked by scratches of white 

 where the last of the snow lay in shaded clefts and 

 caiions, while San Gorgonio's slightly higher crest 

 showed in broader streaks and splashes : both seem- 

 ing to hang without support in the pale cerulean 

 sky. The^hot, fitful breeze, the dreamy mountains, 



