ii2 Recreations of a Sportsman 



winter, and the spring to be the resort of all 

 the world." 



Our immediate objective was the region be- 

 tween the Kio Mayo and the Eio Yaqui, Los 

 Homos, and the Gulf at Tobari Bay. One morn- 

 ing when the sun rose a deep red ball over the 

 Sombrerete hills, we left the little village of 

 Esperanza, and a few moments later were in the 

 very heart of the giant cactus forest a most 

 elusive and puzzling region to the man on foot. 

 I had known the semi-arid regions of New 

 Mexico and Arizona, the big llano escatado of 

 Texas, along the Eio Grande, where, here and 

 there, a tall cactus reared its symmetrical form, 

 or a score stood out in groups against the sky; 

 but I was not prepared for the maze of cacti, in 

 every sense a forest, into which we immediately 

 plunged. From the slopes of the various peaks 

 that environ the delta, the vast plain appears 

 to be covered with brush, but once on the level, 

 and in it, the verdure revolves itself into a cactus 

 forest of extraordinary beauty and solidity. I 

 can compare it only to some artificial scene in 

 a riotous extravaganza, where the artist, in striv- 

 ing for scenic effect, has drawn liberally upon 

 his imagination, to produce weird shapes, bril- 

 liant tints of green and yellow, strange contrasts 

 of color, all unreal and fantastic. 



Out of the region of burro trains, or the long 

 lines of mules carrying freight down from the 



