
SI 
WINDS AND THEIR EFFECTS 
THE COLORADO DESERT. 
ON 
The prevailing winds at Fort Yuma 
are from the north and northwest, but 
southerly winds blow from June to Oc- 
tober. The winds from the north are 
very dry and violent. At Seven Palms, 
on the Southern Pacific railway, the 
winds are almost constant through the 
year, sweeping down from the San Gor- 
gonio pass, keeping the air filled with 
clouds of fine dust and sand, and heap- 
ing up the loose sand against the barren 
hills. With such force and constancy is 
this wind at Seven Palms, that the glass 
in the windows of the station house ap- 
pears as if subjected to an artificial sand 
blast. A gang of men is kept engaged 
the larger part of the vear shoveling the 
sand off the railroad tracks, which are 
often covered in a single night. The 
workmen wear cloth masks, with a piece 
of glass in front. to protect their heads 
from the driving, cutting sand. The 
rocks are curiously affected by this natu- 
ral sand blast, quartz receiving a fine 
' polish asa rule, but often quartz, lime- 
_ stone and other rocks will be beautifully 
sculptured in the most artistic way. 
The pebbles on the mesa formations of 
the desert are peculiarly polished and 
brilliant, as if they had been viled or 
varnished—a result no doubt accom- 
plished by the constant action of loose 
sand upon the surface, driven by the 
winds. By this constant attrition of the 
sand, in some places, each grain has be- 
come a perfect sphere, instead of retain- 
ing its usual angularity. 
The vegetation at Seven Palms is re- 
stricted to a few species on account of 
the drifting sand. Larrea and other 
bushes I found frequently retaining a 
hold upon life by aslender stem—the 
side exposed to the wind blackened as 
by fire and cut through to the heart by 
the cutting sand blast. It seemed almost 
incredible to believe that veyetation 
could actually be subjected to such a test 
and still retain vitality. 
Old tin cans were polished and black- 
ened in the sandstorm as if treated to an 
application of stove polish. Bottles were 
eroded in asimilar way tothe glass in 
the windows. 
The mountain slopes west of the Colo- 
rado jesert are frequently subjected to 
heavy winds which give the traveler little 
comfort. But no damage has ever been 
reported, and the violence of the winds 
does not seem to approach in intensity 
the cyclones of other sections of the 
country—possibly because there is little 
to be damaged or no one exposed to their 
violence to report. 
The sand storms on the plains occa- 
sionally are severe on the transient trav- 
eler. It is impossible to face them at 
times, and one needs to adopt the Arab’s 
method of lying prone on the ground 
until the storm passes by. The air is 
sometimes so filled with fine dust that 
one cannot see distinctly a hundred feet 
away, but if remote from the sand hills 
and the driving, cutting sand, no serious 
inconvenience results. 
—_——_+ oO —_————_ 
LOVE EXPRESSED. 
So sweet, within my arms to hold, 
A baby fresh from heaven, 
And wrap it round with love fourfold, 
Ere it 2 smile has given. 
So aweet, its presence warm to feel, 
Just breathing on my breast, 
{ must in spirit thankful kneel 
‘To God, for love expressed. 
Dy Wp 
san Diego, Cal., Aug. 19, 1893. 
—__+ o+—————- 
The island of Matanzas shows a 
shrinkage this year in its sugar crop of 
22 per cent. Lack of rain is cited as the 
cause. 
The demand for flour in Chinese ports 
increases every year, and there is a fine 
future for the Pacific coast if her mer- 
chants improve the field. 

