Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1879-10-08
Correspondence of the Express.l

lIOfreSpOuueucs ol INC HAPfeoS'l
My last left us among the cactus
on the Mohave Desert. This belt
ceases about two miles from the
railroad station. One popularity l
noticed in regard to this freak of
vegetation: it invariably leans to-
ward the prevailing wind. This is
a wise provision of nature, for OBJ.
servation goes to prove that the
roothold is superficial and the plant
VIGOROUSLY topheavy. About 5 P.
NJ. caught a horned toad frog, if
you like). 1t was apparently
PARALYzED WITH COLD,
And this will not be wondered at
when it is understood that the
thermometer had fallen to about
9Oo in the shade. sincerely pit
led tie unfortunate animal, and if
my means were not limited would
have bought him ticket for Yuma,
where the average would, about,
equal his favorite midday tempera.
ture.
And this is Mohave. What a
barren place! Barren down to the
minutie of its surroundings. Even
the dreary sagebrush refuses to
grow on this burned, pebbly plain.
The mountain ranges are red, bare
and glaring; unable to absorb q
single ray of heat, and choosing the
plain as a focus on which to con-
centrate their fiery abundance.
Here and there, in the distance, are
mounds, often the shape of a sugar
loaf, rising above q murky haze of
heat, like lone islands in tropical
gulf. Even the water which sup
plies the village is piped six or
seven miles, from a canon to the
westward. The Railway Company
intended that this should be a town,
and I suppose ought to call it so
by way of compliment. Lots were,
at one time, held at high figure;
but those who have invested to i'm
prove do not exceed q half q dozen.
Outside OF the railroad buildings
and hotel there are some two or
three shops, couple of saloons, q
hayward, and one private (unoccu-
pied) residence. l am sorry that
this is so. would like to have
found village of at least Ave hun
dred inhabitants. This would, in
evitably, bring along the orthodox
clergyman, in whose career L have
some interest. l can imagine the
good man preaching
FIRE AND BIRTHSTONE
To his congration without creating
the slightest sensation, not having
enough experience of the location
to know that, for them, fire has
been shorn of its terrors. "The fear
o. hell's hangman's whip to baud
the wretch in ORDER" says Burns,
and If the old hell has no terrors he
will evidently have to invent one.
1t will not be the first time that a
new peal has been rung on the pro-
life chimes of eternal punishment
and hearkened to earnestly by
countless millions. To stir up the
average Mohavian he will have to
be consigned to a region of awful
frost in which he never can freeze.
This may seem a trifie absurd at
first, but reasoning from the past,
there is little doubt that it will be
extensively believed. Then he will
be packed in ice for months at q
stretch, carry pounded ice in specf-
ally constructed garments down his
spine and around the small of his
back; pack around huge chunks of
ice on his shoulders by way of a
working punishment, and be COM
PEELED to drink ice-water by the
barrel to warm him up. He will
be driven out in horrid snow
storms, wade through unknown
depths of snow for countless ages;
sleep on snow and eat snow. III
this programme is adhered to rigid
ly, there is little doubt that Mohave
will be model town, famed for its
morality and handed down to fu-
ture ages as the sacred spot from
which the famous ice dogma
spread.
THE OMNIPRESENT COYOTE
Is taking stock of US every few
miles. Those at Willow Springs
were particularly inquisitive, ex-
tending their Investigations by
making a circle of our camp and
taking advantage of every knoll
and hill for purposes of inspection.
They evidently considered that we
were concealing something. Leav-
ng the spring, we were soon en-.
lightened on the subject. The way
was strewn with the skeletons of
sheep, which had died far from the
promised land of grass. This was
the secret. Those coyotes thought
we ought to have the woolly quad
ruped around us, and that we were
defrauding them by surreptitious
concealment. They examined the
willows in our vicinity, eyed the
wagon suspiciously, and even APP
peared to adjust their line of vision
to the intricacies of space en-
closed by our coat tail. The
coyote never fails to sere-
made us with his infer
nal music, throwing all the varia-
tions from B fiat toto B id.
How is it that coyote music is
never brought out in perfection in
any locality except an uninhabited
plain? There he is all energy,
breaking out in all the wild free
dom of his hopeful and joyous ma
ture, untrarhmelled by vexatious
and contracted lines or the depress-
ing influence of congregated man.
The vocal organs of this animal en-
mdsse are capable of producing
much variety of tone. Each indi-
vidual appears to pitch on differ
ent key, from which he ascends by
distinct notes to an elaborate finale.
If each would only furnish music
in turn the artistic execution
would amply compensate for any
deficiency in melody. But coyotes