文档介绍：The Land of Little Rain
The Land of Little Rain
by MARY AUSTIN
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The Land of Little Rain
TO EVE "fortress of ess"
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The Land of Little Rain
PREFACE
I confess to a great liking for the Indian fashion of name-giving: every
man known by that phrase which best expresses him to whoso names him.
Thus he may be Mighty-Hunter, or Man-Afraid-of-a-Bear, according as he
is called by friend or enemy, and Scar-Face to those who knew him by the
eye's grasp only. No other fashion, I think, sets so well with the various
natures that inhabit in us, and if you agree with me you will understand
why so few names are written here as they appear in the geography. For
if I love a lake known by the name of the man who discovered it, which
endears itself by reason of the close-locked pines it nourishes about its
borders, you may look in my account to find it so described. But if the
Indians have been there before me, you shall have their name, which is
always beautifully fit and does not originate in the poor human desire for
perpetuity.
Nevertheless there are certain peaks, canons, and clear meadow spaces
which are above passing of words, and have a certain fame as of
the nobly great to whom we give no familiar names. Guided by these
you may reach my country and find or not find, according as it lieth in you,
much that is set down here. And more. The earth is no wanton to give
up all her best to er, but keeps a sweet, separate intimacy for
each. But if you do not find it all as I write, think me not less dependable
nor yourself less clever. There is a sort of pretense allowed in matters of
the heart, as one should say by way of illustration, "I know a man who . . .
" and so give up his dearest experience without betrayal. And I am in no
mind to direct you to delectable places toward which you will hold
yourself less tenderly than I. So by this fashion of naming I keep faith with
the land and annex to my own estate a very great territory to which none