CACTUS AND GUEASE-WOOD 



145 



form ; yet its lines are as sinuous as those of a 

 Moslem minaret, its flutings as perfect as those 

 of a Doric column. Often and often you see it 

 standing on a ledge of some rocky peak, like 

 the lone shaft of a ruined temple on a Greek 

 headland. And by way of contrast what could 

 be more lovely than the waving lightness, the 

 drooping gracefulness of the lluvia d'oro. The 

 swaying tossing lluvia d'oro, well called the 

 " shower of gold " ! It is one of the most beau- 

 tiful of the desert trees with its white skin like 

 the northern birch, its long needles like the 

 pine, and the downward sweep of its branches 

 like the willow. A strange wild tree that seems 

 to shun all society, preferring to dwell like a 

 hermit among the rocks. It roots itself in the 

 fissures of broken granite and it seems at its 

 happiest when it can let down its shower of gold 

 over some precipice. 



There are other tree forms, like the palo verde 

 and the mesquite, that are not wanting in a 

 native grace ; and yet it may as well be admitted 

 that most of the trees and bushes are lacking 

 in height, mass, and majesty. It is no place 

 for large growths that reach up to the sun. The 

 heat and drouth are too great and tend to make 

 form angular and grotesque. But these very 



The lluvia 

 d'oro. 



Grotesque 

 forms. 



