The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-09-28

solidifed Here are rocks, aques and igneous
rocks spintered and twisted, and showings of grit
stones. congomerates shales salts and syenite ba-
salt
STREAMS ARE POISONED.
Here too, are streams poisoned with wearings
of "copper" with salts, arsenic and borax, and vast
beds of sand and gypsum covered with an alkaline
crust and dry lakes, white snow, on whose lonely
breasts the sand lies fine as dust. The weird soil
tude. the great silence, the grim desolation the
waste places and barren deserts accused and for
saken of man, abandoned to the horned toad, the
tarantula and the snake, terrfy the soul and raise
a barrier to exploration The only drinking water
to be found over an area of hundreds of miles is
in rock depressions and in holes here and there in
the mountains where the rain has collected in nat
ural tanks hidden from solar rays and partially
protected from evaporation. But there are sea
sons when for years, rain falls and then in this
awesome pennsular furnace the air is burning, the
sand as hot as volcanic ash and the silence like un
to that which was when God said ''Let there be
light" The deserts of this mysterious land are
regions of sand where earth and sky form a circle
as distinct as that traced by a sweep of the com
pass.
Into this desolaton of sterility and solitude man
enters at his peril, for here the deadly horned rat
tlesnake the white scorpion, thirst and sweatless
heat invite him to his ruin and offer constant me-
mace to life If with determined purpose he dares
his fate and attempts the crossing of the parched
and desolate land the white glare reflected from
the treacherous sand threatens him with blindness
At times he encounters the deadly sandstorms of
this awful wilderness of aridity, the driving and
whirling sands blister his face and carry oppres-
sion to his breathing If the water he carries fail
him. he may find depression half full of moczery
and disappointment, for its waters hold in solu-
ton akali, alum or arsenic and bear madness or
death in their alluring appearance.
If night overtake him and sleep Cypress him lie
must be careful where he takes his rest lest storm
break upon him and bury him under its ever shift
ing sands and if he sleeps well he may never awake
And these storms capricious, for after wecom-
ing the unhappy man to a hospitabe grave in the
desert and covering him with mound many feet
high and of liberal circumference they are not sat
sfed to let him rest in peace, for months later, it
may be years. they scatter the dune and expose the
mummifed body. There are here no vultures to
clean the bones, for the vuture is the hyena of the
air and lives on putrefaction, and there is here no
decomposing flesh The carcass of man or beast
is dried by solar suction the skin is parched and
| blackened and tightens on the bones the teeth
show white, for the lips are gone with contraction,
the eyes are burned out and the sockets filled with
sand, and the hair is matted dry and sand-sprink-
led. If the lonely be so unfortunate as to es-
cape death by sufocation he awakes with the dawn.
Dawn the desert while the stars still glow in
cerulean blue. 1t is vision of transcendent beauty
for toward the east the sky is bathed in a sea of
amber light blue and roseate. The stiffness is in
tense, llhmitable, it is the preternatural.
SHALL THE DEAD RISE AGAIN?
The man has lost all appreciation of the beauti-
full, the divine silence has no charm for him, it
suggests the grave. Twilight expands into day,
the instinct OF life, of self-preservation dominates
him. he rises and answers the call of the mountains
which allure him by their apparent nearness. The
remorseess times his pace with his if he stands
still the stands STILL if he moves forward the
sun moves with him, if he runs the sun pursues
and to the lost man staggering in the desert it il
| as II the air was atire and his brain abaze. TIL,
| pallor of mental anguish and physical pain are
ashening his skin; his eyes are wild and shot with
blood his features are drawn and his face is neigh
Dor to death And now he searches for his knife
and cuts away his boots, for his feet are swollel
shockingly, his hair is beginning to bleach his gal
is stumbling and the strong man of Yesterday il
aging rapidly Reason, for some time has beer
bidding him goodbye, it is gone, and ouly thu
primal instinct OF preservation remains will
him in his horrible isolation from human aid il
this lonely wilderness the cruel sun pours down hi
intoerable rays till the very air vbraes with
Of heat. Nothing moves, nothing agitates the aw
some silence, there is no motion in the heavens, il
the dumb dead air or on the earth The madmar
tries TO shout but his throat can only return
hoarse cultural and his blackened tongue hangs
out as he gasps for breath. Hunger is craving
him, thirst is devouring him and he does not know
it. The cells of his brain are filed with fire, hi.