Read it through once

We were introduced to many new experiences on the way—long stretches of desert, abrupt mountains, streams in which we had to ford our horses, and halts at shanties where the proprietors sold coffee and fried bacon to travelers at a high figure. The air was dry and made the skin burn, and the sun in the noon was a great hostile globe that made the mules stagger and the driver take off his hat and wipe his forehead with a bandanna.