THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 83 



given to this desert. The sparse vegetation includes several 

 small species of cactus, yuccas, sage-brush, grease-w^ood, rab- 

 bit-brush and certain shrubby plants with the aspect of golden- 

 rods. On the day we crossed the desert, the temperature was 

 104 in the shade, and the great expanse of bare red soil re- 

 flecting its color to the clouds gave the region some of the as- 

 pects of a furnace, yet because of the dryness of the air, the 

 heat was not oppressive. 



Tuba is situated in a small but fertile oasis and consists 

 of about a dozen houses, among which is an Indian school. A 

 few miles away, on a moist part of Moenkopi Wash, is the 

 Hopi village of Moenkopi. Tuba was founded a long time 

 ago by the Mormons. The streets are shaded by cottonwoods, 

 brought in by these settlers, and there are also present numer- 

 ous specimens of the Lombardy popular which latter tree is 

 said to characterize Mormon settlements. The deep green of 

 these trees was in decided contrast to the gray-green prevail- 

 insf in all directions about the oasis. Various fruit-trees were 

 also plentiful It seems that we arrived at the height of the 

 apricot season and were hospitably invited to help ourselves. 



The following day we pushed on to Kaibato, fifty miles 

 further in the wilderness, where a single white trader occupies 

 the only inhabited house and traffics with the Navajos. The 

 road thither would scarcely be called a road elsewhere. It 

 wanders over rough and ragged rocks, around sand dunes and 

 up and down sandy scopes where even the best autos must often 

 be pushed when going up and dug out of the sand when they 

 reach the bottom. At Kaibato the road ceases entirely and the 

 next forty miles must be made on foot or on horseback. The 

 trail starts out well enough but soon becomes decidedly crook- 

 ed and precipitous, rounding the heads of canyons or descend- 

 ing to their bottoms by many zig-zags only to climb out in the 

 same way on the other side. Under such circumstances a horse 

 is about as much of an encumbrance as a help for he must oft- 



