118 THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 



True, they are most cunningly concealed, have been 

 inhabited for centuries and are found only by ac- 

 cident. To anyone versed in fertilizer lore bat 

 guano is a word to conjure with, and this despite 

 the fact that an encyclopedia of international repu- 

 tation informs its readers that "bat guano is not 

 commercially valuable." A singular piece of infor- 

 mation in truth ! Having owned a small orange 

 grove in California simultaneously with a New 

 Mexican ranch I can understand the difference with 

 which the New Mexican regards the discovery of a 

 bat cave in his vicinity (unless it has been his good 

 luck to have discovered it himself) as compared with 

 the excited interest of the Californian. The soil of 

 California requires perpetual enrichment, whereas 

 that of New Mexico is — or rather in my ranching 

 days was — sufficient unto itself. Three bat caves 

 have been found in our vicinity, one a mile long, 

 and thousands of tons of guano almost worth their 

 weight in gold shipped to the orange growers. Thus 

 in one night, so to speak, a lucky find makes of a 

 plain man a millionaire. Over and above the guano 

 the caves contain masses of phosphatic rock — the 

 remains of bat bodies, bones and all — which also 

 is of great value. A remarkable feature in connec- 

 tion with the opening up of the largest cave was 

 that the bats were not driven away by the workmen, 

 and although the entire front of their dwelling was 

 torn down they continued to pass in and out through 

 the narrow slits as of old. 



And speaking of caves other than bat caves — 

 just across the Texan border, in which State curious 



