Through the Giant Cactus Forest 117 



A mile beyond, or it might be one hundred yards, 

 the bush-like pitahayas asserted themselves, or 

 the colossal hecho, and again we came to some 

 friendly ground, where all these forms x were 

 growing side by side in great luxuriance. Sud- 

 denly the forest would thin out, and a big jisto 

 tree would appear, black and forbidding, against 

 the sky, then out upon a vast llano as level as a 

 floor we passed, where a few yellow or golden 

 stalks told that grass grew here in the time of 

 summer rains. Perhaps the llano is red, or it 

 may be gray, or white, and beyond are the pur- 

 ple mountains, Sochi and Cohuincahui, grading 

 into infinite tints over the distant forest. These 

 llano are found occasionally in the very heart 

 of the forest, innocent of the slightest vegeta- 

 tion, a marvel of contrast. On the oldest Span- 

 ish maps may be seen the real line of the road 

 we are following, or one near it, yet never crossed 

 by a motor car, rarely by an alien, sacred to 

 the Yaqui, who with a Serian dislike for out- 

 siders, has succeeded in sequestering his land 

 for ages. 



The car was a trackless ferro carril to the 

 natives, and the picturesque and ancient Yaqui 

 we met riding slowly along on an earless burro, 

 with jangling spurs and complicated matadura, 



1 Saguaro (Cereus giganteus) . 

 Saguesa (hecho) (Cereus pecten-aboriginum) . 

 Pitahaya (Cereus thurberi). 

 Cina (Cereus schotti) . 



