IV. AMUSEMENTS 



A QUESTION that arises in many persons' 

 minds when one speaks of the desert as a 

 place of any attractiveness is — But what can 

 there be to do there? It is a natural question, too, 

 for to most people the desert signifies only a region 

 of dreariness and horror, a mere waste spot marring 

 the earth's wholesome fertility and beauty. That, 

 however, is a total mistake, one of those conven- 

 tional delusions that are based only on generations 

 of popular misconception. Only one or two 

 hundred years ago the forests and mountains in 

 which we now delight were thought places of dread 

 and ugliness. People simply hadn't caught the idea; 

 and today, as regards the desert, a few people are 

 just beginning to catch it. Essentially, the desert is 

 Nature in her simplest expression. Has it come to 

 this — that Nature must be spiced up with amuse- 

 ments before we can take pleasure in her? Surely 

 space, quietude, and freedom are fine things: 

 solitude can be magnificent: loneliness need not 

 scare us as if we were lost kittens. 



However, as it happens, there are plenty of ways 

 of amusing oneself actively on the desert. The most 

 popular at Palm Springs, undoubtedly, is horseback 

 riding, with or without the adjunct of a picnic. Our 

 Araby is ideal for this sort of thing. The " 'ard 

 'igh road" is all right for the automobile, which 



