254 THE PLANT WORLD. 



are found in the canon for a distance of a mile or so from the 

 mouth, the old ones nearer the mouth, and those which have 

 been in more recent use, further u}) the canon. The last camp 

 made by the Indians for the purpose of roasting mescal had been 

 placed at the mouth of the first branch caiion about a mile from 

 the mouth, and was occupied this last spring. Here we found 

 a lodge of boughs, some racks made from sotol Hower stalks, 

 apparently for drying some products which the Indians liad 

 gathered, some circles of brush in the center of each of which 

 was a little fireplace, and one large recently used pit in wliich 

 Avere still to be found remnants of the cooked mescal. 



At this point the agave which the Indians used is fairly 

 abundant still, and it would seem that the older mescal pits 

 date back to the time when the ])lant was abundant nearer the 

 mouth of the canon.. For the purpose of roasting, the Indians 

 choose those plants which are about to flower, and on climbing . 

 the steep slopes in the neighborhood of the recent camp we 

 found quite a number of plants out of which the stem and bud 

 had been cut. The base which remains is evidently appreciated 

 by the field mice, which in every case had gnawed out a depres- 

 sion in the pulpy flesh of the stem. The most characteristic 

 plant in the canon on the lower slopes is a large species of Sotol 

 {Dasylirion irlicelrri), shown in Figure 51. wliich makes a mag- 

 nificent showing, the strong flower stalks rising to a height of 

 fifteen feet. This is also used for making mescal. The leaves 

 of the Sotol are used by the Papagos for weaving a coarse sort 

 of basket, and this material was one of their desiderata, as we 

 judged from an incomplete basket Avhich we found. 



Higher u}) and forming in places a nearly continuous mat 

 covering many acres in extent, is a smaller species of agave, the 

 '"amole"' (.4. ScJiotHi). One wlio climbs up to any height in 

 these mountains becomes only too well acquainted with this 

 plant, for its leaves are armed with a sharp spine and are placed 

 at just the right height to puncture one's shins and knees in 

 trying to pass over it. It seems to one going up hill as bad as 

 it can Avell be, but is really a Aery great deal Avorse when coming 



