SOUTHERN ARIZONA 233 



The Gila monster is a large, sluggish, thick, 

 stumpy lizard of an orange color, decorated with 

 black and brown, and often attains a length of 

 more than two feet. One met with them in dry 

 washes or on some arid point on the mesa, and, 

 unlike any of the other lizards, they were ex- 

 tremely slow in their motions, reminding me 

 always of turtles by their gait and deliberation 

 in moving. When approached, they made no 

 attempt to escape, but would lie still and inflate 

 themselves and hiss, opening the mouth and 

 darting out the forked tongue, so rapidly as to 

 resemble small flames. 



The legends which the Mexicans narrated, re- 

 garding the poisonous qualities of this animal, 

 and their evident dread of contact with one, do 

 not seem to be borne out by the facts, as will 

 presently be shown. However, for the sake of 

 those who have not heard such tales, I will recite 

 an incident that occurred to a "friend of a friend 

 of a friend " of Castro. Castro told it to me him- 

 self. He said that this friend of his friend's friend 

 made a camp one night in a dry wash shortly 

 after dark, spread his blankets on the ground, 

 and, being overcome by the journey of the day, 

 was soon sound asleep. Now, he did not arrive, 

 as was expected, at the point to which he was 

 travelling; after a day's waiting, which the 

 Mexicans would consider great haste, a party 



