Amusements 37 



upper air beyond and above it, cirrus, stratus, and 

 cumulus merge and evolve in ceaseless manoeuvres. 

 I know of no other such "cloud-compelling peak" 

 as this, on which another admirer and 1 have ven- 

 tured to confer the title or degree of Santa Rosa de 

 las Niihes (Santa Rosa of the Clouds.) 



Other aerial phenomena occur in these desert 

 skies, some of them so unusual that one may suspect 

 one's eyes of playing tricks: as, for instance, I did, 

 one evening when riding from Andreas Canon soon 

 after sunset. The western sky was hidden from me 

 by the high wall of mountain on my left; but sud- 

 denly I saw on my right — that is to say, in the East 

 — the well-known effect of radiating beams of light, 

 frequently seen when the sun is at or near the 

 horizon. I reined up and stared: yes, there it was, 

 plain, even vivid. What was up? Had West become 

 East, and East, West? Or couldn't I tell one from 

 the other? These were alarming thoughts, but soon 

 I realized that the desert was up to one of its tricks: 

 what I saw was the sunset reflected by the eastern 

 sky. 



And then there is the night. It may seem odrd to 

 speak of sleep under the head of Amusements, but 

 such sleep as one gets on the desert fairly ranks as 

 enjoyment, so it is much the same. Few people 

 know what night at its best can be. The desert is 

 the place to learn it. Calmness, quietude, restful- 

 ness, as a rule very relative terms, here approach 

 the absolute. We speak of balmy sleep, and some- 

 times think we get it in a bed under a ceiling; but 



