OTHER WATER BORDERS 



always find aromatic clumps oi yerba bue7ia, 

 the " good herb " {Micromeria Douglassii). 

 The virtue of it as a febrifuge was taught 

 to the mission fathers by the neophytes, 

 and wise old dames of my acquaintance have 

 worked astonishing cures with it and the 

 succulent jK^r<5^ mansa. This last is native 

 to wet meadows and distinguished enough 

 to have a family all to itself. 



Where the irrigating ditches are shallow 



and a little neglected, they choke quickly 



with watercress that multiplies about the 



i lowest Sierra springs. It is characteristic 



/ of the frequenters of water borders near 



'man haunts, that they are chiefly of the 



sorts that are useful to man, as if they made 



their services an excuse for the intrusion. 



The joint-grass of soggy pastures produces 



edible, nut-flavored tubers, called by the 



Indians taboose. The common reed of the 



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