CHAPTER II. _The Make of the Desert._--The sea of sand--Mountain

ranges on desert--Plains, valleys, and mesas--Effect of drouth--The rains--Harshness of desert--A gaunt land--Conditions of life--Incessant strife--Elemental warfare--Desert vegetation--Protruding edges--Shifting sands--Desert winds--Radiation of heat--Prevailing winds--Wear of the winds--Erosion of mountains--Rock-cutting--Fantastic forms--Wash-outs--Sand-lines in caves--Cloud-bursts--Canyon waters--Desert floods--Power of water--Water-pockets--No surface-streams--Oases in the waste--Catch-basins--Old sea-beds--Volcanic action--Lava-flows--Geological ages--Kinds of rock--Glaciers--Land slips--Movement of stones--The talus--Stages of the talus--Desert floors--Sandstone blocks--Salt-beds--Sand-beds--Mountain vegetation--Withered grasses--Barren rock--Mountain colors--Saw-toothed ridges--Seen from the peaks--The Sun-fire kingdom 23