Desert

The Desert is a sandy area that spawns desert monsters, cacti, and waterleaf. Each map will generally contain at least 2 desert areas. Drained Oceans also become deserts.

Making money
If a player is desperate for money, for example if they need to make a purchase but are somewhat short of Coins, deserts can be a good indirect source. Sand blocks can be crafted into Glass, which can be crafted into Mugs, which are filled at a Keg to produce Ale, which has a sell price of 20 Copper Coins each. Though the sell price is low, this is one of the only sources of coins in the game that is always readily available, as all other abundant block types have no value on their own.

Assuming the player carries only a Pickaxe and one other Weapon for fighting off any enemies encountered, while keeping all other Inventory slots available for sand collection: 9,500 sand blocks (38 slots x 250 max sand stack per slot) = 4,750 Glass blocks = 4,750 Mugs = 4,750 Ale x 20 Copper Coins each = 95,000 Copper Coins, or 9 Gold and 50 Silver Coins.

Travelling through deserts
Getting through the desert can be stressful and difficult since cacti cause you damage, and they're everywhere. There are two basic ways to get through the desert:
 * 1) With decent armor and a Band of Regeneration, your health will regenerate on its own, and you'll take so little damage from the cacti that they can safely be ignored.
 * 2) Use a pickaxe to dig out the block of sand under every cactus you see. This will destroy the cactus, letting you by. The downside of this method is that it's far more time consuming, and you end up with lots of sand and cacti in your inventory.