To the Gulf of Cortez 



with their long hunting knives and drinking 

 the abundant juices. I have often and faith- 

 fully tried to perform the same feat, out of 

 reverence for my heroes, but failed to find 

 anything juicier than, say, a raw turnip — by no 

 means satisfying as a drink. The venagas are 

 found on the mountains where sheep haunt, 

 with their hard prickly rinds broken and the 

 interior hollowed out, and Anastasio said that 

 the sheep do this by knocking holes in the 

 cactus with their horns and then eating the 

 inside. 



This cactus country makes the third variety 

 of wilderness encountered in the peninsula. 

 There are four: First, and best, the pine 

 barrens ; second, the brushy hills and plains, 

 covered with sage, greasewood and buckweed; 

 third, this spike-bearing volcanic region ; and 

 fourth, the appalling desolation of the ac- 

 knowledged desert. 



The moment we had unloaded and watered 

 our animals, Anastasio and I set out to look 

 for deer. Anastasio wore the spotted and tat- 

 tered remnant of a frock-coat, once green, 

 given him by an Englishman, of whom I shall 

 say more later. He had guarachis, or sandals, 

 on his feet, bare legs, a breech-clout, and on 



71 



