The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-10-13
PARADISE IN THE DESERT.
That Is, Tramps' Paradise, Which Is
Different From the Conventional.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Los Angeles, Cal, Sept 22-Southern
Cahornia is the tramp's pardise in sum
mer, and in winter the Mojave desert
is his Eden. This later may seem para
doXical but it is one of the strangest
features in this odd corner of strange
country. During the summer months
the tramps bask along the shady streams
near the cities and towns, to which they
make daily incursions in quest of cold vic
tuals. They camp in the underground
in the suburbs of the towns which have
an Indain population, or near the rancho
ria of Indian fruit pickers, and supply
the noble red man with whisky. 1t is I'M
lawful to sell whisky to an Indian, and
the tramp acts as a go-between. He
takes the confiding braves half-dollar, re-
turns with a twenty-five cent bottle of the
turpentine variety and pockets the other
twenty-five cents. He then assists in
making the whisky disappear. This is one
of the tramp's sources of revenue which
those in the east do not enjoy. In a warm
climate the system does not require much
food, so he gets along easily in summer
or winter, as the winters here are very
mild he sleeps upon the ground without
covering the year round. When it rains
he seeks hedge or friendly barn.
During the cold months they drift down
from the north in gangs, and make for
the MojaVe desert. A desert, il would
seem, is about the last place a
human being would seek a livelihood, but
it is the lamps paradise. The railroad
town of Mojave is their headquarters.
They camp along the edges of the desert
and ins the gorges that debouch into the
sandy waste or amid the little GASES that
are sheltered by some of the huge black
rocks, or in extinct volcanoes This great
desert has miles upon miles of lava flows,
mud springs, whose depths have never
been fathomed. and transverse canons
extending into the sandy waste for miles
Here the tramp finds a resting place and
perhaps remains for the winter The
question naturally arises why he seeks
the desert where he can see nothing
with no particular object in view In fol-
lowing the railroad he has had a taste
of desert life. There seems to be a fasci-
nation about a desert and when one has
lived, even for a short time, amid one
he invariably returns to the nomadic life
The tramp trudges along the sands, which
the night air does not cool, and when the
morning sun begins to make things hot
enough for anybody. he lies down beneath
the shade of rock or cactus, whose
boughs protect him as a shield.
Excepting horned toads and rattle
snakes the tramp is the only thing that
can live in some portions of the desert.
BY day he sleeps and dreams of houses,
towns, rivers whose banks are lined with
green foliage, and of castles in the air.
In his desolate march he is surprised at
seeing mirage depicting water in a
land where there is no water After
few days rest at one of the mining
camps on the desert, he is off to the next
camp. He has no particular object in go
ing, he does not expect to see anyone in
particular, but keeps moving from the
force of habit; whether it is wise or other
wise he does not know. If he falls by the
wayside his remains are covered by the
drifting sands, his only shroud. The
rarifed air is so devoid of moisture that
the corpse, in many instances, becomes
n real mummy Should the coyotes and
jackals stray far enough into the desert
and find the remains, they would leave
the poisoned body severely alone. The
atmosphere becomes so heavily charged
with mineral and other poisonous sub
stances that the flesh is soon impreg-
mated.
Along the edge of the desert an occa-
sional Indian wigwan is found The In
dams do not venture far out, only to some
canon or oasis where they can hide the
horses they have stolen from civilization.
The desert Indians, as they are called,
are excellent crackers and trailers and
are utilized in tracking lost mining ;.ros-
pOctorS. The Indians live on acorns herbs.
heavily seeded grasses, wild game, in
Guiding the festive jack rabbit which
they upset at long range with the boom
erang. Sheep and goats stray from the
ranches end the Indians and tramps
seem to think they are legitimate game.
The tramp finds an asylum at the wig
wan of the desert Indian-there is an
affinity between them-a hatred of civili-
cation.