First published in 19012 According to Wikipedia: "Mary Hunter Austin (September 9, 1868 ñ August 13, 1934) was an American writer. One of the early nature writers of the American Southwest, her classic The Land of Little Rain (1903) describes the fauna, flora and people ñ as well as evoking the mysticism and spirituality ñ of the region between the High Sierra and the Mojave Desert of southern California."