EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 



tiny bristles, and spread in the sun to dry. After 

 being thoroughly dried, they will keep indefinitely, 

 and are boiled -as required and eaten with a season- 

 ing of salt. An alternative process is to steam the 

 joints for about twelve hours in stone-lined pits first 

 made hot by a fire of brush. The cactus, .thus 

 cooked, may be eaten at once or dried and laid away 

 for future use. It then has the texture and appear- 

 ance of unpeeled dried peaches. 



From the curious, cylindrical, keg-like bodies of 

 another cactus of the Southwest (Echinocactus sp.), 

 termed bisnaga by the Mexicans, or Barrel Cactus 

 by polite Americans (others sometimes style it 

 Nigger-head), a sort of conserve used to be made by 

 the Papago Indians of Arizona the prototype of 

 the so-called "Cactus Candy " of city shops. The 

 process, as described by Dr. Edward Palmer, was 

 to pare away the thorny rind of a large specimen 

 and let it remain several days l ' to bleed. ' ' Then the 

 pulp was cut up into pieces of suitable size and boiled 

 in the syrup of the Sahuaro pitahayas, obtained as 

 described in the preceding chapter. Another and 

 more important use of this cactus will be described 

 later. 



Few plants of the Southwestern desert region are 

 more interesting and useful than the Agave, a genus 



133 



