BOOK YII 



STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



" Let him," says Humboldt, " who wishes to escape 

 from the storms of life, follow me into the depths of the 

 forests, across the deserts, or over the lofty summits of the 

 Andes." 



The illustrious philosopher was right, for face to face 

 with these great scenes of nature, man feels his passions 

 and sorrows die out, and contemplation absorbs all his 

 being. St. Bernard felt this deeply when he said to his dis- 

 ciples, "Believe my experience of it; you will find in our 

 forests something more choice than in books; the trees and 

 rocks will yield lessons preferable to those of the ablest 

 masters." 



The vast solitudes of nature themselves j^resent their 

 harmonies and contrasts. Sometimes the deserts only 

 represent a sea of sand, calm and boundless like that of 

 Libya, which fills the mind with a sense of infinitude. 

 Sometimes, as in the stejopes of America and Asia, they 

 are covered with a carpet of verdure. Lastly, other deserts, 

 as Ave see in the Arabian chain, are wholly composed of a 

 stony and rugged soil like the arid surface of a planet 

 waiting for the creation of organic life. 



