Impressions of the Desert 199 
deceived, superimposes one upon the other as 
if it were but a stratum, and makes them 
appear to be the same. So astonishing is the 
difference in the appearance of desert ranges 
from various points of view that it cannot 
fail to suggest acertain train of thought to the 
reflective mind and cause one to wonder if it 
is not precisely the same in regard to the facts 
of life. Two persons approach a mountain 
from different directions and to them it is not 
the same mountain but two very different 
ones, so absolutely unlike does it appear from 
opposite sides, and from a hundred points of 
view, and from one and another elevation. 
In riding all day around these isolated moun- 
tains, this fact, which seems so trite, is brought 
home in so vital a sense that, for the first time, 
perhaps, it ceases to be a truism and becomes 
atruth. It is one of the most striking object- 
lessons of the desert. 
This changing aspect of things in a day’s 
ride affects one as a sort of enchantment. 
Not only do the mountains appear to change, 
but it may happen that a range will disappear 
entirely from view as if by some magic it had 
become invisible. From my mountain work- 
shop I had closely observed the topography of 
the desert, and in particular several peculiarly 
