THE SEA AND THE DESERT 197 



gated, as also wherever the agave or century plant 

 was in bloom. 



Late the next afternoon we started for the 

 thirty mile drive to Riverside in the valley of the 

 Gila. The route was through the foot-hills of 

 the mountains which rose on either side of the 

 river, and we were constantly passing over hills 

 of considerable elevation. To avoid the heat we 

 had started late in the day, and most of the ensu- 

 ing drive was by moonlight, so that impressions 

 as to the fauna and flora by the way were indefi- 

 nite. Just at dusk a little whippoorwill alighted 

 in the bare dust of the roadway, and now and 

 then a coyote trotted leisurely away ahead of 

 us, or another would view the passing vehicle 

 from some neighboring elevation, with every 

 indication of interest. Both jack-rabbits and 

 their smaller allies gambolled by the roadside, 

 and several times the horses shied violently as 

 the shrill cicada-like warning of a rattlesnake 

 broke the pervading stillness. 



The journey was necessarily slow, as much of 

 the road followed the beds of dried-up streams 

 and was extremely sandy. These dry waterways 

 were at that time the most feasible lines of travel, 

 and were utilized throughout the mountains, 

 wherever the pioneer had penetrated their fast- 

 nesses. Passage through this sand of course was 

 accomplished silently, and hence every sound 



