The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-08-03


Owy blue. against the west
ern sky. The air is chill, and bleak
wind searches out every fold in our
! blankets-we might almost be spend
ing night on the tundras. Absolute
silence reigns: neither coyote nor bird
of the night breaks the awful hush.
If one is wakeful it is a relief ut times
to grind ones heels into the pumice. or
| to cough. every sound making Il well
come break in the everlasting rhythm
of the deserts sleep.
With scare a moment Of dawn the
sun floods everything. 4 most welcome
warmth for while. soon to make one
gasp N it's breathless heat. Long be-
! fore the rainy season actually begins.
vegetation seems to feel q Quickening
in the air: the plants scent the coming
| moisture weeks beforehand: tie rush
| ing streams, swollen with the melting
SHOWS from the lower mountain tops,
brings life to the lands through which
they flow; spring is awakening every
where-except on the alkali plain. The
very last glimpse We have of it shows
no sign of spring. no hint {: green
nor of returning life, no resurrection
of flowers, not even a green blade OF
grass.
Where a thin rind of red-brown
grass roots partly covers the white
dust, parched mesquite bushes find
root, and strange, uncouth organ cact
rear their columns. like mammoth can
delabra. Here wild-eyed cattle roam
uneasily. nbbling occasionally at the
bitter grass stems.
Farther out in the desert, where
even the mesquite and cacti fail, we
ride slowly across the parched surface,
wondering if a single living thing can
endure the bitterness of the earth. In
the distance moves the v:hirlwinds of
dust. tall, thin columns with perfectly
distinct outlines, undulating slowly
here and there. both life and death in
their silent movement. A distant
vaquero is the focus of great cloud
of white dust, raised by the horses
hoofs. Pools of dark water with white,
crystalled edges now appear, the liquid
seeming little different from the solid
plain.
Most remarka BILE it seems to US when
a stray great blue heron now and then
flies silently up from the desert (what
can possibly attract these birds to such
place of death as this, distant even
from the bitter pools?. and flaps slow
ly out of sight. Twice great ebony
raven sails through the dusty air over
our heads-the same bird repassing.
No other life is visible, save the bal
anced black specks high against the
blue, as invariably part Of Mexican
day as are stars of the night. Herons,
. vultures, ravens. all move slowly, seem
ing less alive than the distant dust
columns.
But we feel the real spirit of the
eternal desert. when, as we turn to re-
trace our steps, we spy something
white, different from the surrounding
earth, and the spell of past ages falls
upon us. The bitter water is ever
drying up. the whirlwinds carry the
dust from place to place, the birds come
and 60 as they please, but this relic
of an elephant of the olden time brings
past and present into close touch.
What scenes has the desert looked upon
since this mammoth staggered dying
into the quagmire which proved its
tomb? Our eyes smart from the Dust,
as we reluctantly turn our horses
heads on the back trail; for we should
like to stay and search out these fos-
sils-more fascinating in a way than
the living beasts and birds which peo-
pie the tropics beyond.
THE SCAVENGERS.
One OF the most wonderful of the ex-
hibitions of bird life vouchsafed to US
in Mexico comes as we leave the alkali
plain and ride away among the mes
quite scrub. A confused mass of black
appears in the air, which soon resolves
itself into hundreds of individual
specks. The atmosphere is so decelv-
ing that what at first seems to be
vast cloud of gnats close at hand is
soon seen to be 4 multitude of birds;
blackbirds, perhaps, until we approach
and think them ravens, and finally,
when a quarter of mile away. we
know that they are vultures. Three
burros lie dead upon the plain. This
we knew yesterday, and here are the
scavengers. Never have we seen vu!-
lures so numerous, or in more orderly
array. A careful scrutiny through the
glasses shows many score IF black and
turkey buzzards walking about and
feeding upon the carcasses of the ami
mails. From this point there extends
upward into the air vast inverted
cone of birds, all circling in the same
direction. From where We sit on our
horses there seems not a single one out
of place, the outline of the cone being
as smooth and distinct as though the
birds were limited in their flight to this
particular area. 1t is rare sight, the