sess diuretic, tonic and stimulant properties.

Next in importance to the mescal comes the yucca. There are several
varieties, but the palm yucca is the most common, and under favorable
conditions attains to the proportions of a tree. Fine specimens of
yucca grow on the Mojave desert in California that are large and
numerous enough to form a straggling forest.

The tree consists of a light, spongy wood that grows as a single stem
or divides into two or more branches. Each branch is crowned by a tuft
of long, pointed leaves that grow in concentric circles. As the new
leaves unfold on top the old leaves are crowded down and hang in loose
folds about the stem like a flounced skirt. When dry the leaves burn
readily, and are sometimes used for light and heat by lost or belated
travelers. White threads of a finer fiber are detached from the
margins of the leaves that are blown by the wind into a fluffy fleece,
in which the little birds love to nest.

A grove of yucca trees presents a grotesque appearance. If
indistinctly viewed in the hazy distance they are easily mistaken for
the plumed topknots of a band of prowling Apaches, particularly if the
imagination is active with the fear of an Indian outbreak.

The wood of the yucca tree has a commercial value. It is cut into thin
sheets by machinery which are used for surgeon's splints, hygienic
insoles, tree protectors and calendars. As a splint it answers an
admirable purpose, being both light and strong and capable of being
molded into any shape desired after it has been immersed in hot water.
Its pulp, also, makes an excellent paper.

Another variety of yucca is the amole, or soap plant. Owing to the
peculiar shape of its leaves it is also called Spanish bayonet. Its
root is saponaceous, and is pounded into a pulp and used instead of
soap by the natives. It grows a bunch of large white flowers, and
matures an edible fruit that resembles the banana. The Indians call it
oosa, and eat it, either raw or roasted in hot ashes.

A species of yucca called sotal, or saw-grass, grows plentifully in
places, and is sometimes used as food for cattle when grass is scarce.
In its natural state it is inaccessible to cattle because of its hard
and thorny exterior. To make it available it is cut down and quartered
with a hoe, when the hungry cattle eat it with avidity. Where the
plant grows thickly one man can cut enough in one day to feed several
hundred head of cattle.