Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/193

* DESDICHADO. 157 DESERTION. DESDICHADO, desdi-chii'dd (Sp., disinherit- ed!. Ill Sn.tis iinvol liaiiltoc the device adopt- ed by the hero in the Ashby tournament. DE SENECTU'TE (Lat.. On OKI Age), or CA'TO MA'JOR. A popular essay by Cicero, applying.' the piiiuiples of philosophy to the en- durance of the ills incident to old age. It was composed in B.C. 45 or 44, and is dedicated to Atticus. Sci])ii) and La-liiis are represented as meeting at the home of the elder Cato, in B.C. 1.50. and admiring the manner in which he bears his age. I DESERET, dez'er-et. State of. The name I given 'y the Mormons in 1S49 to their settle- ' nienl in the present State of Utah, descrct being a word taken from the Book of Mormon and meaning 'hind of the honey-bee." In September, !S50, Congress created the Territory of Utah, and the old name giadualh" fell into disuse. See Utah : Mormons. DESERONTO. dez'er-on't.*i. A town of Hast- ings County. Ontario. Can., on the Bay of Quints, an inlet of Lake Ontario, 130 miles west of To- ronto (Map: Ontario, F 3). A branch line of six miles connects it with the Grand Trunk and Canadian Pacific railroads. It has large lumber- mills, agricultural and manufacturing indus- tries, and is lighted by gas made from the chem- ically treated sawdust of its lumber-mills. The United States is represented by a consular agent. The beautiful Forester's Island Park is near Deseronto. Population, in 1891. 3338: in I90I, 3.V27. DESERT (Fr. desert, Lat. desertum. from de- scrcre, to abandon, from dr. from + xcrere. to bind). A region which supports little plant and animal life. As thus defined, the term includes all barren areas, whether their barrenness is caused by intense cold, lack of soil, or by in- sufficient moisture. Greenland, southern Pata- gonia, and the Arctic and Antarctic lands in general are deserts, determined as to character by their situation in high latitudes. In common usage, however, the term is limited to the great continental wastes, lying within the tropical and temperate zones, which are scantily watered by rains. The most extensive of these arid deserts are found in Asia, Africa, and Australia: they are much less prominent a really in Xorth and South America, and in Europe they scarcely occur. The Sahara Desert is a part of an arid belt that reaches from the Atlantic coast across the northern limb of Africa to the Red Sea. and 19 continued through Arabia. Persia. Turkestan, Sungaria. and Mongolia, almost to the Pacific shores of --sia. The eastern extension of this belt, which is wider than the central portion, is known as the Desert of Gobi. In South Africa the Kalahari Desert occupies a large area W'tween the Zambezi River on ths north and the Orange and T.impcpo rivers on the south. The arid regions of Australia are situated in the central part of the continent, and are of vast extent. The Atacama Desert, in northern Cliile, and the Colorado Desert, in California, are of comparatively limited area, but they furnish per- haps the best illustrations of regions in .merica having an arid climate. The arid deserts vary greatly in surface con- formation, and often they are far from having the monotonous character which popular imag- ination has ascribed to them. The Sahara Desert consists essentially of a series of elevated plains rising in terraces to altitudes of several thousand feet. Within its compass there are sandy stretches with the surface formed by the winds into shifting dunes, and great areas underlain by stratified rocks, where the surface is strewn with boulders and has been deejily eroded by the rivers that existed in past ages. Oases are found at intervals in deserts wherever there are natural springs or mountains of sullicient height to cause plants may Ihmrish here, while in the less favored regions the plant life is limited to representa- tives of the more hardy families, such as cacti and artemisia. The dryness of the desert climate and the scanty vegetation give rise to rock- sculpUiring in columnar, tabular, and fantastic forms. Violent wind - storms, accompanied by whirlwinds, cloudless skies, extraordinary heat by day and rapid fall of the temperature at night, and an annual rainfall that varies from a few inches to an immeasurably small amount, are characteristic meteorological features. The small rainfall, upon which the aridity of deserts depends, is due to the following causes: Prevalence of dry winds; isolation by mountain barriers along the borders : great distance from areas of evaporation, or oceans. The Sahara is an illustration of a desert caused by dry winds. In the northern part the prevailing winds blow from the northeast, and rain falls only in winter, when cyclonic storms from the Atlantic pass over the region. The moist winds that have their source in the Gulf of Guinea bring rain to the southern Sahara, but in small amounts only, as their (emperature — and consequently their capacity for holding moisture — is increased be- fore they reach far into the interior. A similar condition prevails in the Desert of Atacama, where the prevailing winds are from the south. When mountain ranges occupy the borders of a region the winds are deprived of their moisture before they pass beyond the interior slopes. Thus the Kalahari Desert receives a very small rain- fall from the east winds, which bring an abun- dance to the region lying between the South African highlands and the Indian Ocean. In America the arid region of Nevada. Utah, and Arizona is shut in from the Pacific Ocean by the Sierra Nevada and the coast ranges. Finally, desert conditions may prevail in regions situated at great distances from oceans, owing to the gradual precipitation of moisture as the winds travel inland. The interior of Asia owes its dry climate to this cause. Consult Xeumayr, Erdge- schichtc (Leipzig. ISn.)). DESERTED VILLAGE, The. A poem, part- ly descriptive and partly declamatory, by Gold- smith (1770), in winch the poet moralizes some- what tritely about the sadness of the growing luxury and the depopulation of pastoral retreats. See Ar:.iEX. DESERTION, . military ofTense consisting in abandoning the service with the intention of not returning to it. To prove this oft'ense it is necessarv' to show absence without leave and the intention not to return. The maximum penalty for desertion in time of war is death. In time of peace it is dishonorable discharge and confine- ment at hard labor for five years. The United States (Jovernment pays a reward of $30 for the arrest, securing, and delivery of a deserter, and
 * )iecipitation. The date-palm and other food-