142 



THE DESERT 



Odors and 

 juices. 



Saps astrin- 

 gent and 

 cathartic. 



the ground. But Nature has not left their 

 tops wholly at the mercy of the deer. Take 

 the leaf of the sage and crush it in your hand. 

 The odor is anything but pleasant. No animal 

 except the jack-rabbit, no bird except the sage 

 hen will eat it ; and no human being will eat 

 either the rabbit or the hen, if he can get any- 

 thing else, because of the rank sage flavor. 

 Rub the greasewood in your hand and it feels 

 harsh and brittle. The resinous varnish of the 

 leaves gives it a sticky feeling and a disagreeable 

 odor again. Nothing on the desert will touch 

 it. Cut or break a twig of the sangre de dragon 

 and a red sap like blood runs out. Touch it to 

 the tongue and it proves the most powerful of 

 astringents. The Indians use it to cauterize 

 bullet wounds. Again no animal will touch it. 

 Half the plants on the desert put forth their 

 leaves with impunity. They are not disturbed 

 by either browsers or grazers. Some of them 

 are poisonous, many of them are cathartic or 

 emetic, nearly all of them are disagreeable to 

 the taste. 



So it seems with spines, thorns, barbs, resins, 

 varnishes and odorous smells Nature has armed 

 her desert own very effectually. And her ex- 

 penditure of energy may seem singularly dis- 



