er variety, closely hugging the earth, twists about like a
vegetable serpent. The great marvel relating to this plant has been, how
it could keep alive and remain full of sap and moisture when other
neighboring vegetation was killed by drought. But this is easily
explained. It is protected by a thick epidermis which prevents
evaporation, so that the store of moisture which it absorbs during the
wet season is retained within its circulation. One sort of the cactus
known as the _cereus grandiflorus_ blooms only in the night; the frail
flower it bears dies at the coming of morning. The cochineal insect of
Mexico and Central America is solely nurtured by the native growth of
cacti. The yucca palm, fifteen to twenty feet in height, with its large
milk-white cluster of blossoms, resembling huge crocuses, dotted the
expanse here and there. Occasional flocks of sheep were seen striving to
gain a sufficiency of food from the unwilling soil, while tended by a
shepherd clothed in brilliant colored rags, accompanied by a dog. Now
and then scores of jack-rabbits put in an appearance among the
low-growing mesquite bushes and the thick-leaved cactus. These little
animals are called jack-rabbits because their tall, straight ears
resemble those of the burros or jackasses. The mesquite bushes, so often
seen on the Mexican plains, belong to the acacia family. They yield a
sweet edible pulp, used to some extent as food by the poorer classes of
natives and by the jack-rabbits. The burros eat the small, tender twigs.
Indeed, they will apparently eat anything but stones. We have seen them
munching plain straw with infinite relish, in which it seemed impossible
there could be any nutrition whatever. This is a far-reaching, dreary
region, almost uninhabitable for human beings, and where water is
unattainable three-quarters of the year. The broad prairie extends on
either side of the railroad as far as the eye can reach, ending at the
foothills of the Sierra Madre--"Mother Mountains." Here and there, as
already instanced, the burial place of some murdered individual is
indicated by a cross, before which the pious peon breathes a prayer and
adds a stone to the pile, so that finally quite a mound is raised to
mark the murdered man's grave. Towards the twilight hour, while we
rejoice that our lot has not been cast in such a dreary place, more than
one hawk is seen to swoop from its lofty course and fly away with a
young rabbit which it will eventuall