118 THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



tree (Cereus giganteus), a plant which is at once sim 

 pie and singular in form, and is called " the giant can 

 die," because of its form and height. It is the queen of 

 the cactus tribe, and towers with its straight stem above 

 the short and twisted varieties that belong to the same 



CD 



family. 



" In this country," says the traveller Mollhausen, 

 " animals and plants show to advantage, though the 

 same thing cannot be said o'f the human inhabitants. 

 The hideous Indians whom we met, dwelt near a de- 

 file called the Cactus Pass, because of the plants of 

 that name, that are found there in great numbers." 

 Among these the most remarkable is the Cereus gi- 

 ganteus. This king of the cacti is known in Cali- 

 fornia and in New Mexico as the Petahoya. The 

 missionaries who, more than a century ago reached the 

 Colorado and the Gila, speak of the fruit of the Peta- 

 hoya upon which the natives subsisted and with 

 which they were as much delighted as in later days 

 the trappers. This strange plant consists of nothing 

 but a few branches and still fewer leaves. Its north- 

 ern limit reaches to the banks of the Gila. Savage 

 deserts and the most sterile tracts seem to be the 

 localities most favored by this plant, which finds 

 means of pushing its roots between stones and rocks, 

 where not an atom of soil is to be seen and where it 

 grows, nevertheless, to a surprising height. The form 

 of these cacti varies with age. At first twice as large 

 at the top as at the root, the plant, in proportion as it ar- 

 rives at maturity, enlarges it diameter till it becomes 

 symmetrical and assumes the appearance of a straight 



