Palm Springs 13 



best of horticultural novelties, American-grown 

 dates — whoever has not tried them should lose no 

 time. In its snug elbow at the head of this valley 

 lies our little oasis. I named it unique, and make 

 no apologies for the word. 



Walled up thus and all but overhung on the west 

 by the mountain, what kind of landscape is it that 

 spreads north, east, and south from Palm Springs? 

 Strangely, it is one that fascinates by reason of its 

 apparent lack of interest. Looked at in the large, 

 one might even call it dreary, this gray level, tree- 

 less and waterless, dotted over with small shrubs 

 and herbage so monotonously alike as to seem 

 machine-made: a wholesale kind of land, all of a 

 piece for leagues at a stretch. Yet this is the land 

 which, if not at first view yet on very short acquaint- 

 ance, lays hold of you with a charm so deep and 

 strong that it has passed into a catch-phrase — the 

 lure of the desert. Explain it how you may (or 

 give it up for unexplainable, as most people do,) 

 there it undoubtedly is, and none but the most 

 unresponsive of mankind can escape or deny it. 

 Unless you are one of those it will surely "get 

 you," given the chance, and you will find yourself, 

 without knowing how or why, a Companion of the 

 Most Ancient Order of Lovers of the Desert, an 

 Order which far outranks Masonry in age, and 

 might claim Ishmael or Esau, possibly even Nim- 

 rod, for its founder. 



But I was going to describe a few main features 

 of Palm Springs' outlook. One's attention is at once 



