OTHER WATER BORDERS 



always find aromatic clumps oiyerba buena, 

 the " good herb " (Micromeria Douglas sii). 

 The virtue of it as a febrifuge was taught 

 to the mission fathers by the neophytes, 

 and wise old dames of my acquaintance have 

 worked astonishing cures with it and the 

 succulent yerba mansa. This last is native 

 to wet meadows and distinguished enough 

 to have a family all to itself. 



Where the irrigating ditches are shallow 

 and a little neglected, they choke quickly 

 with watercress that multiplies about the 

 lowest Sierra springs. It is characteristic 

 of the frequenters of water borders near 

 man haunts, that they are chiefly of the 

 sorts that are useful to man, as if they made 

 their services an excuse for the intrusion. 

 The joint-grass of soggy pastures produces 

 edible, nut-flavored tubers, called by the 

 Indians taboose. The common reed of the 

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