THE APPROACH 



13 



tain shadows at sunset. They are astonished at 

 yonr question for they see nothing but moun- 

 tains. And you may vainly exhaust ingenuity 

 trying to make a Pagago see the silvery sheen 

 of the mesquite when the low sun is streaming 

 across its tops. He sees only mesquite — the 

 same dull mesquite through which he has 

 chased rabbits from infancy. 



No ; it is not likely that the tribe ever chose 

 this abiding place for its scenery. A sensitive 

 feeling for sound, or form, or color, an impres- 

 sionable nervous organization, do not belong to 

 the man with the hoe, much less to the man 

 with the bow. It is to be feared that they are 

 indicative of some physical degeneration, some 

 decline in bone and muscle, some abnormal 

 development of the emotional nature. They 

 travel side by side with high civilization and 

 are the premonitory symptoms of racial decay. 

 But are we correct in assuming that because 

 the red man does not see a colored shadow 

 therefore he is blind to every charm and sub- 

 limity of nature ? 



These mountain-dwellers, always looking out 

 from their height, must have seen and re- 

 marked the large features of the desert — the 

 great masses of form, the broad blocks of color. 



Seme of 

 beauty. 



Mountain 

 "view." 



