THE GREAT COLORADO DESERT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5760, 2 January 1897, Page 2

THE GREAT COLORADO DESERT.

[Bt Captain D. D. GAiLTiARD, Coßrs op Engineers, U.S.A.] (Cosmvpolitnii.) What reader who twenty-five or thirty years ago studied the geography of the Aiuerican continent does not picture the desert as a flat, " boundless ocean of sand," kept in constant turmoil by the wind, and drifting in great waves and columns, which, in a few moments, covered up entire caravans ? Alas for tiie cherished fables of childhood! While of sand there is a great abundance, it is seldom as fine as that of the South Atlantic sea-const, and, consequently not one whit moro prone to move in tho great engulfing billoivs so harrowiugly depicted iv the geographies of our youth. Equally evanescent is the mental picture of the "boundless ocean of sand," for while this description Avould apply accurately to a considerable portion of the region under discussion, yet much the greater area is cut up by ranges of mountains, destitute of every trace of vegetation,

INDESCRIBABLY STEEP AND RUGGED, and with crests so sharp and knif el if o that, in many places, ifc is impossible to stand upon them with safety. Those mountains rise abruptly out of the desert, like islands from the sea; their foothills generally covered beneath the drift which, during past ages, has come down from the North. Certain general characteristics of this region impress themselves on all travellers. These aro the parallelism of the mountain ranges to the Pacific coast; the abundant evidence of volcanic action in times geologically recent; the general absenco of trees, and tho entire absence or very small size of their leaves when found ; the evergreen character of the vegetation, and its dull ashen hue; the prevalence of thorns and spines on trees and shrubs; the absence of fragrance in the few "flowers ; tho resinous odour of most of the trees and shrubs, and the green, waxlike appearance of stems and branches ; the luxuriant character of the cactus growth, and the very general tendency of vegetation when bruised to exude a glim, or secretion, from the wound — thus promptly checking any loss of sap from evaporation — all of which are achuir-

able provisions of Nature for the preservation of the individual and perpetuation of the species in the struggle for existence amidst arid environment. That this region is a desert is dve — as is tho case with most of the deserts ot the world — almost entirely to the small amount of the rainfall rather than to

THE BARREN CHARACTER OP TEE SOIL, which, in many places, is extremely fertile, and with a greater rainfall would produce fino crops. Hot as are the days on the desert, the nights are nearly always cool, ancl so great aud rapid is radiation that it is tho exception when a person sleeping in a tent, or in fche open air, docs not find

himsolf under one or more blankets just at daybreak. Tho wrifcer can recall but two nights during the entire summer of 1893 when it was too hot to require a blanket at this hour, and it was not at all uncommon for the standard thermometer, placed outside of the tents, to fall as low as Codeg Fahrenheit at this time of morning. But ifc is in winter that tho desert is at its best ; the air then is clear and crisp, invigorating and stimulating to a remarkable degree, and although at times ifc is somewhat hot in the middle of the day, yet the nights are perfect and the stars shine with

A DAZZLING BRILLIANCY PECULIAR TO THE DESERT. Ice is by no means unknown at this season, and the writer recalls three occasions in March, 1893, when, on the Colorado desert, within thirty miles of Mammoth Tank, water froze in his canteen at night, disproving completely the popular belief that in this region ifc never becomes cold enough for ice to form. "Frost, like dew, is practically unknown, but it is on account of the small amount of moisture in the atmosphere, and not on account of the absence of cold sufficient to produce it.

A phenomenon peculiar to tho desert is the sand storm, weird tales of the terrors of which linger in the minds of most of us. Almost every phase and variation of this phenomenon was experienced, and while it is quite possible that, in certain localities and under exceptional conditions, human beings might perish of suffocation, yet, in general, these storms were more dreaded for tho discomforts they caused than for any threatened

DANOER TO LTPE. On the Colorado desert, whore they were most f requent and violent, the first appearance was that of a palo brownish-yellow haze, or cloud, extending many hundred feet above the earth. In tho clear atmosphere of tho desert this cloud was often visible for hours before it reached the observer, continually increasing in apparent height and in density, wlicn the storm had developed its full fury it became aboufc as dark as on a very cloudy or foggy winter's day ; the air wa3 charged with electricity and wns full of sand, which filled every crevice, crack and cranny of the tent and its furniture; sifted down tho backs and into the hair, nostrils, eyes and clothing of the occupants ; accumulated iv large quantities in any fo°d which a sanguine cook might endeavour to prepare, aud cruelly cut the unprotected faces and hands of those exposed to the full fury of the blast. Sometimes these storms last but an hour or two, but generally they begin soon after sunrise and hist uufcil a little after suuset, but on one occasion quite a severe storm lasted for three entire days. Thoy are especially frequent ou tho western edge of tho Colorado desert, at the foot of the coast ran«-e, where the cold air of the Pacific,

LIKE A GREAT AERIAL WATERFALL, comes tumbling ovor the crests of these mountains to replace the hot air which rises from tho desert below. Of the fauna of tho desert it may bo briefly said that it is comparatively rich in individuals, but poor in species. The animals found thero woro the antelopo, mountain sheep, coyote, rabbit and innumerable small burrowing animals never seen by day. It is absolutely impossible for somo of these animals to obtain water for mouths at a time, but tho antelope and tho rabbit dispense with it by eating tho fruit and leaf of the cactus. Even the coyote, generally re-o-arded as carnivorous, subsists largely on the .same diet, nor is he a vegetarian from necessity alouo, for his inordinate fondness for watermelons causes him to be much dreaded by tho ownors of tho few melon patches on the border. How tho small burrowing animals subsist without water is ono of tho mysteries of the desert. In ijonora.l, ifc may be stated that animal life hero ia composed of two classes.

SWIFT-FOOTED ANIMALS OP OREAT ENDURANCE — feeding by day, and slow-footed animals of small endurance and nocturnal habits. Tho birds noted were the raven, hawk, woodpecker, quail, white-winged dove, and humming bird. Rattlesnakes were plentiful; Gila monsters were found in consider-

able numbers east of the Colorada River; box-tortoises were picked up many miles from water, nnd innumerable lizards, with tails curled over thoir backs in tho most ludicrous manner, wont scampering over the sand, at every stop, with the swifness cf arrows. But most interesting of all of tho inhabitants of tho desert aro

THE TAPAfIOES, tho short-haired Indians of the south-west and the true .Arabs of tho desert; noted for their strength, ileetuess nnd endurance, as needs they must bo to carry on sncops?fully tho struggle for existence in so inhospitable a region. Wherever water can Lo obtained perennially they locate their permanent ranchorias; the habitations consisting sometimes of adobe huts, sometimes o? upright poles plastered with mud, avil sometimes of a beehive-like ar-. rangement m:ule by planting pliable poles in a circle, drawing the tops towards the centre a.nci them there, and then thatching tho y-holo with straw. But, whatever the kind of habitation and wherever located, tho door always facnu the east and is never fastonod, for tho Papagocs, hko many another puople struggling for existence amid

INHOSI'ITAKI.'E SITRTMnnTOINGS and suffering from contact with a superior race, look for the coming of n Messiah, who, strangely enough, is kuown as " Moctczuma." They say that he once dwelt iv Oasa Grande, the famous prohistoric ruin on the Gila Kiver, but that some of his people tried to kill him, nud ho went to Mexico, promising them that when they were in the greatest trouble he would return from the east with the rising sun ; bring back the sorely needed rain ; mako tho desert to blossom like a garden-; cause his people to be tho greatest on earth, and make tiie wliite men thoir slaves. Thai; when Mocfcesuma comes all doors may be soon by him, and none closed against him, these poor people, with a pathetic faith, place the only "entrance to their houses towards tho oast and leavo the rnde door open, that their Mes«iah may enter when lie comes. The Papagocs number abont ten thousand in all, but only about half of this number reside within tho limits of the United States. Like all inhabitants of the desert, they are, from tho nature of their surroundings, a pastoral people, owning herds of line cattle aud tough, wiry poDies. Tho.y are, however, excellent ranne-v,, and will cover on foot, in a day, a distance that few horsemen would enre to undertake. Nor do their pastoral habits prevent them from attempting agriculture under

CONDITIONS WHICH WOULD DETER THE STOUTEST-HEARTED WHITE MAN. At many places on the desert, where fortile land can be found near natural water holes, or convenient to their artificially constructed dams, they establish " Temporajes," and fence in with mesquito brush small fieMs, to which they promptly repair when tiio firet summer rain falls. Where silence reigned before, all is now full of life aud activity. Houses and fence* are repaired, irrigation ditches put in order, new dams built or old ones repaired, and often within twenty-four hours after the first drop of rain falls the entire crop of melons, pumpkins, squashes, beans, and Indian corn has been planted. On ono occasion wo encountered a party of seven man and seven women out hunting mountain sheep. They were all riding • astride, were all clothed alike with but a small strip of cloth around the loins, aud wcro armed entirely with bows and arrows and one sadly dilapidated old gun, profusely wrapped with cactus fil-ro to keep stock and barrel together. Primitive as are thoir arms, yet they often succeed in killing numbers of mountain sheep. Around a single old camp fire were counted the horns of twenty of these splendid animals, and several other old camps which were „ scon showed nearly as groat a number. But, interesting as are these Indians, it is not tho living alone who occupy one's thoughts when crossing the desert, for, alas ! frequent graves and

bleaching skulls op animals, are painful reminders of unfortunate travellers who died from thirst on the road. When gold was first discovered in California thcro was a rush of Mexicans from Sonora to the new El Dorado. To these were added numbers of Americans, who, dreading tho hostile Apaches to bo encountered further north, sought to escape them by taking the unknown and littlo travelled desert route. Again, early "in the sixties," when tho new Placer mines on tho Colorado River were opened, another stream of Mexicans poured across tho desert from Altar, in Sonora, to Yuma, Arizona., about two hundred and thirty miles distant. Between the Sonoyta and Colorado Rivers, a distance of about one hundred and thirty mites, no permanent water coidd be found, but during certain seasons of. the year a scant supply could be obtained at a water hole afc Las Playas, aud a moro reliable supply at Las Tina^as Alias (the High Tanks;, fifty-six miles from Yuma, where the waters of occasional ruins were collected in a. high mountain canon, aud, passing through a narrow rocky gorge, hundreds of feet above tho ground, came tumbling down the rocks in

A SUCCESSION OP CASCADES. At the foot of each of these, during tho course of countless ages, a deep, circular basin, or tank, had been worn in the solid rock. Of these tanks there are seven large ones and a number of smaller ones — holding in all fifteen thousand to twenty thousand gallons when full. The lower tank alono can bo reached on horseback, and to reach the next three requires a stiff climb and a cool head. Tho upper ones can only be reached by ascending, to a height of several hundred feet, tho steep gorge on tho right. Even then, except in the case of the highest tank, ifc is necessary to lower oneself down a rope, fastened to the rocks above. There is nothing in external appearances to indicate that water can be found here, and tho fact of their very existence is almost unknown to Americans. J. r et, surprising as ifc may seem, these saino ''tanks to-day, fifty-six miles distant from tho nearest settlement, .are accurately shown on a map of this region, made by tho indefatigable Jesuit- missionary, Father Kino, who travelled through this region about two hundred years ago. >