THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 121 



column for about twenty feet, to the place where the 

 branches are produced. Here round branches go 

 straight out from the trunk, but they gradually curve 

 upwards, parallel to the trunk, and rise to the same 

 height. It is at this stage that the curious plant, with 

 its many upright branches, looks like a gigantic, can- 

 delabrum, and deserves its name of giant candle. 



At first sight one cannot conceive how these lofty 

 stems, isolated, and clinging only to a point of rock, 

 can withstand the tempest ; but they owe their se- 

 curity to a series of ribs placed in the interior of the 

 fleshy stem, from the top to the bottom, and which 

 are as hard as the wood of the cactus. Both trunk 

 and branches are regularly fluted throughout their 

 entire length, and from this circumstance they bear a 

 striking likeness to Corinthian columns. In May and 

 June, the time of bloom, the upper end of the 

 branches, and of the main stem, are covered with 

 large white flowers, which are replaced in the two fol- 

 lowing months by savory fruits. This plant is one 

 of the favorite articles of food used by the Indians, 

 who also convert it into a sort of syrup. Upon the 

 tree these oval and pear-shaped fruits grow close to- 

 gether; they are green, but at the top turn reddish. 

 The pulp is crimson, and tastes like that of the fresh 

 fig, but much drier. These cacti reach the height of 

 60 feet; when the plant dies, the flesh falls away, 

 piece by piece, from the fibres of the stem, and for 

 years afterwards holding on by the roots, these gigan- 

 tic and bare skeletons are seen still clinging to the 

 rock. 



