n8 Recreations of a Sportsman 



tarried awhile under a big pitahaya, to gaze at 

 the strange thing, the last of the invaders of 

 the land. The pack trains met with in the heart 

 of the forest were often demoralized. Burros 

 and mules stopped, gazed at the strange thing 

 intently, then, in concert, took to the forest, to 

 be rounded up later on by the burro-mounted 

 vaqueros ; others, again, in long picturesque lines, 

 paid no attention to us. These trains were all 

 part of the strange picture. One was a bat 

 guano or pack train from the famous Bacatete 

 bat caves in the mountains, where at sundown 

 the bats stream out in such vast numbers that 

 they resemble a column of black smoke, that 

 gradually widens out and is dissipated in the 

 purple canons. The Yaquis collect the guano, 

 pack two bags on each burro, and drive the pa- 

 tient animals through the forest to Esperanza, 

 where it is shipped to California to rose growers 

 and owners of fine gardens. Long lines of 

 burros are laden with garbanzas, as staple a food 

 to the Yaqui as rice is to the Chinaman. Now 

 a deer leaps across the road far ahead, stops, 

 and gazes at the oncoming monster, or a big 

 white-tailed jack rabbit, with a coyote lurking 

 along, shies as we appear. 



While the giant cacti are the attraction of 

 the forest and make it, there are other trees 

 that lend character to the region. Suddenly the 

 hechos and pitahayas disappear; long graceful 



