The Land of Little Rain

The Land of Little Rain (1903) by Mary Hunter Austin is a series of essays describing the flora, fauna, indigenous and migrant peoples of the American Southwest. It displays a particular distaste for modern man's impact on, and obliviousness to, nature.

Austin opens with a description of the "Country of Lost Borders," located "east away from the Sierras, south from Panamint and Amargosa." It is a desert, but Austin argues that the word "desert" doesn't suit it as it is rich with life. She describes the vegetation that grows there, Death Valley, and some animal life. The cattlemen and miners living there curse the land, including Salty Williams who drives a team of mules ninety miles on a trail wagon, along which many men and mules have died of heat exhaustion. The dangers of the desert are worth it, Austin argues, as "deep breaths, deep sleep and the communion of the stars" are compensation enough.

The next essay, "Water Trails of the Cersio," illustrates the faint lines left in the grasses of Cersio from animals seeking water. The coyote is the best water-seeker among these desert animals. It has keen senses, a good memory, and such reliable hunting skills that carrion will stalk a coyote in search of a good meal. Conversely, Austin calls rabbits "foolish people" who seem only to be useful for a larger animal's dinner.



"The Scavengers" discusses buzzards, carrion crows, and other scavengers that appear in the desert. Austin writes that there was once a three-year water shortage when the sky was black with buzzards. When a man becomes lost along a trail, another man finds him by looking where the buzzards are gathering. Austin tells us what a cow looks like as it dies of starvation, what sounds a buzzard makes, and about a tame carrion crow living in a Shoshone camp. The essay ends as Austin notes that nothing left behind in the animal world goes unused and unabsorbed, unlike humans who blunder in leaving trash "like a disfigurement on the forest floor."

"The Pocket Hunter" introduces a man who camps in the desert with his burros looking for veins of ore. Eventually, the pocket hunter strikes it rich and moves away to consort with the London elite. Austin misses him, but a few years later, finding him again in the desert, is satisfied that this is his destiny.

"Shoshone Land" is about Winnenap', a Shoshone medicine man who lives among the Paiutes as a former hostage. Austin describes the Shoshone way of life and the beautiful land they once occupied.



In "Jimville-A Bret Harte Town," Austin suggests that writer Bret Harte should have gone to Jimville to inspire his tales because of the colorful characters that live there. She writes a little about the inhabitants, but mostly about the landscape, the Silver Dollar Saloon, and Squaw Gulch. In the latter story, “Dimmick,” the squaw’s mate, abandons her. She becomes an alcoholic and wanders off, giving birth to a baby near a ravine. Jim Calkins finds her and the baby there and provides the baby with a home among the townspeople. When he returns to the ravine, he discovers what will later become Bully Boy mine.

In "My Neighbor's Field," Austin details a piece of land that she holds in esteem. She writes that as soon as she saw the area in the springtime, she knew she had to live near it. The original owner dies, someone else buys it and then loses it after putting it up as collateral. It is subsequently sold to her neighbor, Naboth, who plans to turn the field into town plots.

"The Mesa Trail" starts by Naboth's field and ends at the borders of Shoshone land. Austin notes the damage left by sheep and cattle and the abandoned Shoshone villages, called "campoodies," that litter the area. She also mentions that men, like animals, have their season; she expects during rodeo season to meet a vaquero looking for cattle.



"The Basket Maker" focuses on Seyavi from the campoodie. Seyavi has had a hard life; having lost her partner, she and her son struggle to survive in a cave. Eventually, she weaves baskets to sell. Near the end of her life, she becomes blind, which is common in the campoodie.

"The Streets of the Mountains" is about mountain trails and mountain dwellers. Austin believes that human-made, modern homes lead people to undervalue nature.

"Water Borders" expounds on how the melting snow from the mountains creates streams and lakes. Austin notes that grazing animals just outside of the reserve destroy the beauty and color within the forest reserve.



"Other Water Borders," is about an irrigation ditch whose ownership has been dramatically contested over the years, even leading to at least one murder.

In "Nurslings of the Sky," Austin portrays storms as a "visible manifestation of the Spirit moving itself in the void." She talks about the different storms that arrive in different seasons and how the animals and plant-life weather them.

In the last essay, "The Little Town of the Grape Vines," Austin describes an idyllic village where there is no crime and the friendly inhabitants keep siesta and dance for every occasion. The town, Las Uvas, has homes made of earth and was founded by a family from Old Mexico who shares all of its possessions. Austin challenges those who "sweat for nothing" and are too interested in their own importance to come to visit Las Uvas.