The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-06-09


men. They are never happy except
when on the move. Nowadays travel
is made so easy and cheap that any,
one may go where he will, but in
those days by wagon, or on horse
back, or afoot, were the only methods.
While there were both difficult and
dangerous features connected with
travel by wagon, who can tell the
healthful pleasures that it afforded !?
To be constantly out of doors, breath
ing the pure and uncontaminated air,
day and night to eat out of doors,
often the results of ones own hunt
ing skill to learn the self dependence
that comes only when away from all
source of supplies to learn how few
are the real necessities of life to sleep
in the open under the solemn and
ever-watchful stars to companion
with trackless solitudes and your own
soul to draw strength and power,
courage and wisdom, not from asso-
citation with men, but from nature
that antedates man-these are few
of the joys of such life.
Now and again a small cluster Of
graves was passed. Some unhappy
band of prospectors, trappers, pion-
GERS, hunters. mayhap, who had come
unthinkingly upon this wild and pitt
less waste of sands. Like many of
the later seekers for gold who perish
ed in droves on the mountains and
deserts, these advance guards were
worsted by the fierce heat, the lack
of water, the heart-break that comes
from disheartenment and then, per-
haps with no other shroud than their
torn and tattered garments, they were
lowered into little shallow grave, a
small board, rudely fashioned into
the form of cross, placed at the head
of the mound to indicate the name of
the dead, and their whilom compau-
ions and fellow-travelers went for
ward saddened and cherries, for they
knew not when their own time would
come, nor how near, possibly, it
might be.
Of native wonders no brief story
can do more than suggest what Kear-
ney and his soldiers saw. Early they
caught glimpses of the ascending
smoke and steam from-they knew
not what. Investigation proved them
to be mud volcanoes, of which there
is a fairly large area, where sulphu-
rous gases bubble up through hot
mud, throwing up clouds of steam
and unearthly vapors to help in the
cleaning and revivifying processes
that transform the effete and poison
Gus airs of the city into healthy and
life-giving winds again /; for the des-
ert is vast cleansing laboratory for
the atmosphere, and that is one reason
why it is so beneficial to those who
are sick to give themselves into its
care.
Far away to the north they could
see the groups of palms that have
since become so famous. Especially
near Palm Springs and Indio are many
of these stately and beautiful trees.
One of the finest groves belongs to
the Government, and thus protected
as forest reserve, it will be source
of attraction to visitors for centuries
to come. Almost as stately and ma
jestic as the sequoia gigantea of the
Sierra Nevada, and far more pictur-
esque and beautiful, these palms stand
as faithful and silent sentinels, wit
nesses of the doings on the desert.
They know the lives of the Indians Of
the region as none others can know
them. They have seen each year
births, marriages and deaths quar-
rels, reconciliations, courtships and
separations. Under their waving
leaves love has reigned supreme,
though there was no civilized refine
ment and no culture in those who
loved. And once each year these
palms witnessed ceremony that few
white men have ever heard of, much
less seen. Their yield is fruit a
small date, with but little meat and a
large seed. These dates grow in
hanging clusters of rich beauty, and
they are gathered by the Indians, who
climb the trunks of the palms to reach
them. They are eaten just as they
are gathered, or are dried for future
use, when they are pounded in NOR
tar, seeds and all, made into rude
paste and baked. The ceremony re-
ferred to is the dance of fire and the
prayer of the Indians around these
palms. The Indians believe that the
growth of the palm is improved by
burning away all the old leaves and
refuse that accumulate year by year
around the trunk. AS soon as the
fire is lighted on a palm they circle it
at safe distance and then, singing
their rude and simple, but wonder
fully interesting and effective songs,
they slowly dance around the burn
ing tree, their naked or picturesquely
robed bodies brilliantly illuminated
by the flames, the upper leaves wav-
ing violently to and fro in the draft
caused by the heated air, the dark
ness of the shadows highly accen-
tuated by the light from the burning
debris. The Indians claim that nc
harm whatever comes to the tree from
this process, as the heat is not intense
enough, and does not last long enough
to work any injury. On the other
hand, they claim, as the result of cen
turies of experience, that the trees
thrive after it, that the fruit is thereby
made far more rich, large and abun
dant.
Thus in spirit, if not in absolute
fact, have shown what Kearney ano
LII, &C .-..,.r &C The XXIock1 rn III On finf