The Chihuahuan Desert is a desert in Mexico, one of the “driest and most extensive” in the world and “one of the worst”, reaching beyond the borders of Texas. Travelers wake up already inside it: “You are in the Chihuahuan Desert.”
| Type | Place |
| Spanish entry | Desierto de Chihuahua |
Description
“There are a couple of dunes shaped of sand… but there is a lot of rock too.” The dunes are “full of stone”, and the ground opens into “immense depressions” that hide things until one is upon them. A layer of dust and sand “could give way under your steps”. Riding across the stone dunes is among the hardest feats of the route. The dust “flies through the forest” that borders it.
The land is arid and lifeless because “the silt with all its nutrients did not reach it”: “there are no farms or anything here”.
Features
- The temple. A temple lies sunk in a hollow in the middle of the desert.
- The masts. In the south stand masts with the skeletons of the Rey brothers tied to them, fleshless yet alive, “screaming in agony”. Among them rises a giant face.
- “The last trial of the desert”, known only by name.
From its sands expeditions “set out toward the oceans”.
Conflicting accounts
- The temple is placed “in the middle of the Sonoran Desert”, while the rest of the route is in Chihuahua: one desert with two names, two deserts, or a scribe’s slip.
Open questions
- Who raised the masts and the face, and how do they relate to the temple? The face’s material survives only in an incomplete phrase.
- How does a forest border such land?
- Distances, days and water sources for the crossing are not recorded.
- Are a desert seen toward Jericho and the Holy Land in a fight with dragons, and one near Alexandria, this same desert?