196 East and West 
destitute of heat rays. Looking southward, 
how unutterably cold was the landscape; 
while to the north and west it was gently warm 
in tone, a beautiful mauve tinged with green. 
One was a pale image of death, the other an 
auroral glow symbolic of life. Inthe east the 
earth was neutral, a series of outlines in grey, 
and one was conscious, not of the desert, but 
of the light which illumined the desert, pro- 
ducing an eminently impressionistic picture— 
a vision rather than an actual landscape. 
By ten o’clock I had ridden twenty miles 
or more and was far out on the plain. But 
what a disenchantment! Where now was the 
opal desert which had so lured with its ethereal 
colour, its subtle charm? Creosote and arte- 
misia bushes, all of about the same size and 
appearance, were scattered more or less regu- 
larly over the hard gravelly plain. Among 
these were stunted palo verdes and occasional 
saguaros, while barrel cacti, tree chollas, and 
other opuntias formed a large part of the 
flora. The immediate environment was harsh 
and the endless little bushes monotonous. 
These were the factors then which produced 
such beauty in the distance. This near view 
was much as if one should look at a painting 
with a magnifying-glass: it resolves itself into 
