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Show CHAPTEE XIX. VEGETATION OF THE DESEKT. I cannot resist the temptation of enlarging and dwell ing upon, what I may term, the natural miracles of this extraordinary region. North of Yuma, on the Colorado, there are hundreds of acres of mosaic pavement fash ioned from minute cubes of jasper, carnelian and agate, a flooring of tiny pebbles so hard and polished that, when swept by the wind, is as visibly compact and regular as if each cube was set in place by an artisan and forced down by a roller. At times this floor of precious stones is entirely hidden by the sand, then a fierce desert wind enters and sweeps it clean. Nowhere, unless it be the Giant's Causway, Ireland, have I seen stones laid with such mathematical accuracy. In this land of contradictions is the Painted Desert, with its fantastic surface of ocherous earth and varieties of marls rivalling the tints and colors of a large palette. Here, in this weird and singular territory, was opened by the Spaniards the now exhausted and abandoned mines of the Silver King and the Plancha de la Plata, where lumps of virgin silver weighing 2,000 pounds were discovered, and the Salero, where in Spanish times the padre, who had charge of the little mission, wishing to entertain with proper respect his bishop, who was paying his first visit to the camp, discovered when the table was set that there were no salt cellars. Calling two of his Indian neophytes, he ordered them to dig ore from the mine and hammer it into a solid silver basin, which he placed on the table, garnished with roses and ferns, and |