358 CALIFORNIA DESERT TRAILS 



seen It. But my ambition had not been merely to 

 view It as a new and interesting tract of geography. 

 I wanted to know it more intrinsically than that: I 

 hoped, by living with It night and day, to learn 

 something (though it could be little at best) of Its 

 lonely heart, its subtle, uncomprehended spirit, its 

 repellent yet enthralling beauty, Its agelessness, 

 changelessness, and weariness, its implacability, 

 solemnity, and terror. 



The objective part of my plan I felt to be fairly 

 accomplished. Not so the deeper side, however: the 

 subjectivity of the desert Is of too rare a sort, its 

 effect upon the mind Is too strange and complex, to 

 take fonn in any clear conception. Yet, since in- 

 evitably one strives to realize one's experiences, I 

 ask myself again, into what single Impression does 

 the desert render itself? What one sensation remains 

 most strongly on the mind? The mountains, the sea, 

 even the vast and changeful sky, have each some 

 predominant genius for those who love the fair fea- 

 tures of our earth. What sentiment does the desert 

 yield by which it may be linked with human emo- 

 tions? What analogy exists by which we may come 

 into touch with it? 



The answer must be. There is none. At every 

 point the desert meets us with a negative. Like the 

 Sphinx, there Is no answer to its riddle. It is in the 

 fascination of the unknowable, in the challenge of 

 some old unbroken secret, that the charm of the 

 desert consists. And the charm is undying, for the 

 secret is — Secrecy. 



