n6 Recreations of a Sportsman 



of ways. There was a constant variety in the 

 forest, as we wound our way through it. The 

 setting, the base, was of cactus in infinite variety, 

 long snake-like forms drooping gracefully, others 

 pear-shaped, ranging in colors from vivid impos- 

 sible sea-green, to the richest purple and all its 

 variants; or now we were in a forest of cholla, 

 that appeared like colossal bunches of grapes, 

 the plants being six or seven feet in height, form- 

 ing a base, from which grew a great pitahaya, 

 like coyotes around a jaguar. 



There was a constant color change, greens per- 

 vading, and over all was drawn an ineffable lace- 

 like silvery haze or tint, that added to its 

 unreal and artificial appearance. There was no 

 apparent law or order in the forest growth along 

 the delta, and that it reaches north along the 

 Encinas desert is shown by the following from 

 Dr. McGee in his paper on the Seris in the report 

 of the National Museum: 



Ordinarily, the Saguesa like the Saguaro (in Seri 

 land) is sparsely distributed, but there is an im- 

 mense tract between the desert of Encinas, and the 

 eastern base of the Sierra Seri, in which it forms 

 a literal forest, the giant trunks close set as those 

 of trees in normal woodlands. 



Now we were gliding silently, or walking 

 through a region where the giant Cereus held 

 sway, the tall columns being everywhere evident. 



