Wealth of the Worlds Waste Places and Oceania | Page 5

United States
independent of Chile, from whose desert, Atacama, the world's chief
supply of this mineral is now obtained.
Perhaps there is no part of the United States more healthy and at the
same time more deadly than the southeastern part of California,
embraced in those indefinite areas called the Mohave and Colorado
deserts. That life and death should lay claim to the same regions with
equal strength seems somewhat of a riddle, but a careful investigation
of the conditions will make good the claims of both. Here are regions
rivalling the Sahara in heat, lack of water, and barrenness, and in many
parts as difficult to traverse; regions full of surprises in deceptive
mirages, peculiar vegetation, strange animal life, occasional
cloud-bursts, purity and exhilarating effects of atmosphere, charm of
ever-changing colors reflected from the mountains, wealth of floral
display in early spring, and marvellous fertility of soil when touched by
the magic wand of water. All these and a certain weirdness of beauty
difficult to define give these great wastes a peculiar attraction of their
own which only those who have spent much time there can understand
and appreciate.
For the dread white plague in its early stages there is no medicine and
no other climate that can equal the pure, healing atmosphere of these
deserts. A new lease of life may be gained by the nerve-racked man or
woman who will lay aside all home worries and spend a few months at
some congenial home on one or another of these deserts.
[Illustration: Gila monsters]
Among the animal life found on the desert are the wildcat, coyote,
rabbit, deer, rat, tortoise, scorpion, centipede, tarantula, Gila monster,
chuck-walla, desert rattlesnake, side-winder, humming-bird, eagle,
quail, and road-runner. Wild horses and wild donkeys, or "burros,"
frequent these great wastes, cropping the vegetation that grows on the
oases.

One of the most interesting of these animals is the desert-rat, whose
habits, seemingly intelligent and equally curious, enable him to
maintain a home amid surroundings most unfavorable to his survival.
He is a big, active fellow of a glossy gray color, and since he always
leaves something in place of whatever he may carry off, he is often
called the trade rat. Night-time is his "busy day."
The house that he builds for himself is a veritable fortified castle built
in up-to-date desert-rat style, under a protecting bush or rock, or beside
a cactus--preferably a prickly pear. This stronghold, from four to five
feet long and three feet high, is made of sticks interwoven with pieces
of prickly cactus, thorny twigs, and odd bits in general--great care
being taken to have most of the thorns project outward. His private
quarters consist of a shallow hole burrowed under the centre of this
thorn-woven pile. Access to the interior is gained by a winding
passage.
The only enemy that might try to thread the mazy hallway is the rattler,
who by an ingenious device is deterred from even making the attempt.
To keep his snakeship from intruding on domestic privacy Mr. Rat
takes several strips of spiny cactus and lays them flatways across the
passageway leading to his retreat.
It is well known that a rattlesnake will not crawl over a prickly
substance; hence a traveller when camping out at night in rattlesnake
regions often surrounds his sleeping place with a horsehair rope as a
safeguard against such an unwelcome intruder. Even the hungry,
prowling coyote, who would make short work of the rat could he but
get at him, fights shy of lacerating his paws by attempting to tear down
the formidable pile.
The desert-rat has a morbid desire to carry to his home any small article
which he may chance to find lying around, as many a desert miner has
found to his discomfiture, but he always leaves something in its place,
such as a strip of cactus or a stick.
For downright strategy no creature inhabiting the desert surpasses the
road-runner, sometimes called the ground-cuckoo or snake-killer.

Though omnivorous, this bird lives chiefly on reptiles and mollusks. It
is decked in a gay plumage of coppery green, with streaks of white on
the sides and a topknot of deep blue. In fleetness of foot it is said to
equal the horse. Many stories are told of its surrounding a coiled
sleeping rattlesnake with strips of cactus and then tantalizing its victim
until, baffled in every attempt to get away, the snake finally inflicts a
deadly bite on itself. Then the road-runner leisurely proceeds to devour
the suicide.
The characteristic plants of these deserts are sage, mesquite,
greasewood, and a great variety of cacti. Of the cactus family, the most
conspicuous is the saguaro, or giant cactus, which frequently attains
the height of fifty feet. All the cacti are leafless and abundantly
supplied with sharp,