They are also so precisely composed and redolent of their absent owners that they function a little like peopleless portraits.

The barren, peopleless expanses of sand and scrub and rock were immensely appealing when compared to modern civilization.

What would anyone want with that moonless, peopleless..." "Moonless?"

Black draperies, likewise, in the gloomy room, shut out from our view the moon, the lurid stars, and the peopleless streets - but the boding and the memory of Evil they would not be so excluded.