30 



THE DESEBT 



"Wewrof 

 the winda. 



ward. How far out it goes is unknown, but 

 when it has cooled ofE it descends and flows 

 back toward the land as the daily sea-breeze. 

 It re-enters the desert through such loop holes 

 in the Coast Eange as the San Gorgonio Pass — 

 the old Puerta de San Carlos — above Indio. 

 The rush of it through that pass is quite vio- 

 lent at times. For wind is very much like 

 water and seeks the least obstructed way. Its 

 goal is usually the hottest and the lowest place 

 on the desert — such a place, for example, as 

 Salton, though I am not prepared to point out 

 the exact spot on the desert that the winds 

 choose as a target. On the Mojave Desert at 

 the north their action is similar, though there 

 they draw down from the Mount Whitney re- 

 gion as well as from the Pacific. 



In open places these desert winds are some- 

 times terrific in force though usually they are 

 moderate and blow with steadiness from certain 

 directions. As you feel them softly blowing 

 against your cheek it is hard to imagine that they 

 have any sharp edge to them. Yet about you 

 on every side is abundant evidence of their 

 works. The sculptor's sand-blast works swifter 

 but not surer. Granite and porphyry cannot 

 withstand them, and in time they even cut 



