124 S. B. PARISH 



of the cliff a solitary Fouquiera splendens projected against the 

 sky its tall and slender stem, bare of leaf or blossom. 



Clambering with difficulty over the smooth, wet barrier, we 

 came above it to a tiny pool, and in the wet sand of its margin 

 saw the footprints of mountain sheep, which come here to drink. 

 We followed up the canyon for some distance, but it seemed to 

 go on indefinitely, unchanged in character, and offering no pros- 

 pect of novelty. So, as it was now a matter of walking in place 

 of riding, the purpose of reaching the summit was abandoned, 

 and the slippery granite ledge was descended with more diffi- 

 culty, but with greater rapidity, than had attended its ascent. 



SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS 



All the maps of Salton Basin give a prominent place to the 

 Superstition Mountains. They are about half way between the 

 present shore of Salton Sea and Signal Mountain, just over the 

 boundary in Mexico The vanished waters of ancient Lake 

 Coahuilla, which filled the Salton Sink, once washed their south- 

 ern base. The contour map gives 764 feet as the altitude of the 

 highest point. 



The very name. Superstition Mountains, is alluring to the 

 immagination ; so it was gratifying to me to have an opportunity 

 of visiting them, especially as I flattered myself that I would be 

 the first botanist to explore their mysteries, as I certainly am the 

 first to make a record of his visit. 



As one approaches, leaving roads behind, and driving through 

 the monotonous succession of low gray atriplexes which are 

 widely spaced over the desert plain, the mountains present a 

 puzzling aspect. A long, broken ridge, its sharp summits ap- 

 pearing as if covered closely with some low, dark vegetation, it 

 bore a certain resemblance to the dunes of the desert, which are 

 often capped by the verdant, ultimate branchlets of the buried 

 mesquite trees which they entomb. But these acclivities were 

 too steep for sand, and their summits too dark for the green of 

 the mesquite. 



The mountains, when reached, were found to be of hardened 

 clay, deeply cut by ravines into steep ridges and pinnacles. 



