IN CALIFORNIA 81 



further than merely drinking from them they 

 made stew kettles of them. Scooping out most of 

 the juicy interior, they would pour back a needful 

 amount of water, heating it with hot rocks in the an- 

 cient aboriginal fashion, and adding the food to be 

 cooked. Such primitive boilers were often found 

 in old times about Indian camps where bisnagas 

 grew. The value of the various species of cactus 

 to the animal life of the desert is considerable. In 

 the recesses of some of the branching sorts, birds 

 build nests and rear their young in security from 

 marauding snakes which are baffled by the encir- 

 cling thorns ; small burrowing mammals of one sort 

 and another have learned to fortify the entrance to 

 their subterranean homes with spiny opuntia joints, 

 effective discouragers to Brother Coyote's ad- 

 vances ; and it is said that wild horses on the desert, 

 when forage and water run low, will sometimes kick 

 the fleshy sorts to pieces to get at the melon-like in- 

 terior which is meat and drink to them. 



Most people take it for granted that a tropical 

 jungle is the place to go in order to see flowers in 

 abundance and in the fullest richness of color, while 

 the desert is not associated in their thoughts with 

 the presence of flowers at all. As a matter of fact 

 bright flowers come with bright sunshine, and 

 deserts and mountain tops above the timber, are the 



