THE CACTUS FORESTS OF CENTRAL BOLIVIA 320 



wide stripes of two colors merging gradually into one an- 

 other, and when some harmonious combination is used, 

 such as dark green and yellow, the effect is very pleasing. 

 The price of a blanket, requiring months to make and con- 

 taining six or eight pounds of wool, was about three dollars. 



Continuing our journey by way of Duraznillos and Lajma, 

 we reached Chilon at the end of three days. A more tire- 

 some trip is hard to imagine ; the country is so uneven that 

 one is constantly going either up hill or down, and the alti- 

 tude varies from that of Totora, nine thousand eight hun- 

 dred feet to ten thousand five hundred feet. The broken, 

 arid landscape becomes monotonous, and the climate is 

 trying owing to the heat at midday and the freezing tem- 

 perature at night. The Indians scattered along the way 

 are not of a particularly friendly nature, and are only in- 

 different at best. 



At Chilon we entered the heart of the giant-cactus forest 

 — and it can be properly known by no other name. The 

 country, far as the eye can see, is covered with the thorny 

 plants ; some of the giant club-cacti rear their fluted columns 

 to a height of sixty to seventy-five feet, and are of majestic 

 appearance. There are also immense clumps of prickly- 

 pear and several other varieties, while low, trailing kinds 

 hug the rocky earth; the latter are rather unpleasant as 

 one frequently strikes against them in walking, and the 

 sharp spines penetrate shoe-leather and are extracted from 

 the foot with difficulty; mules frequently get them into 

 their noses while nibbling on leaves or the few blades of 

 coarse grass, and are driven almost frantic with the pain. 

 Many of the club-cactus plants bore an abundance of round 

 fruit about two inches in diameter and covered with long, 

 velvety down; when the outer covering was brushed off a 

 smooth, red berry was revealed; it is very sweet and the 

 flavor reminds one of strawberries. 



Chilon is a settlement of twenty-five or thirty huts; its 

 elevation above sea-level is five thousand six hundred feet, 

 but the climate is very hot. We put up in one of the 



