WHY, WE DON'T DESERT. 45 



an islands. But I had my doubts. I thought 

 it possible the captain merely had " put over " 

 a good bluff. 



Next day I asked Little Johnny, the boat- 

 steerer, if it were true as the captain had said, 

 that Lower California was an uninhabited desert. 

 He assured me it was and to prove it, he brought 

 out a ship's chart from the cabin and spread it 

 before me. I found that only two towns 

 throughout the length and breadth of the penin- 

 sula were set down on the map. One of these 

 was Tia Juana on the west coast just south of 

 the United States boundary line and the other 

 was La Paz on the east coast near Cape St. 

 Lucas, the southern tip of the peninsula. Tur- 

 tle bay was two or three hundred miles from 

 either town. 



That settled it with me. I didn't propose to 

 take chances on dying in the desert. I preferred 

 a whaler's forecaste to that. 



