394 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



The Yaqui Indians speak the Spanish language poorly, 

 and are but half-civilized. They cultivate small fields, and 

 plow with a forked stick. Sometimes the women pull the 

 stick intended for a plow, and sometimes a burro or small 

 jack furnishes the motive power. We learned from 

 the natives that there was a small insurrection going on, 

 down the river, between some of the Mexicans and Yaqui 

 Indians. I afterward learned that such things occurred 

 every time they had a good crop of beans. So, deciding 

 not to go into the mountains until things got more settled, 

 we moved up the river ten miles, near an Indian settlement, 

 and prepared to stay a week or two. The first two days 

 were spent fishing and picking fruit, which grows in great 

 abundance on the many kinds of cactus which are to be 

 found in the vicinity of this river. 



The mammoth cactus growls here in great abundance, and 

 the novel way hunters have of j)icking this fruit would sur- 

 prise many of our Eastern friends. This cactus grows from 

 fifty to one hundred feet high, being about three to four 

 feet in diameter, and having one or two limbs, which are 

 the same size of the body. The top is as large as any part 

 of the body, and right on the toj) is where the fruit grows. 

 In some instances, fifty or more blossoms come out. When 

 the fruit is ripe it looks and tastes much like a black mul- 

 berry. Each berry is protected by a kind of husk which 

 stands up around it. The fruit is about three inches long 

 and one inch in diameter. The only way to get this fruit is 

 with the rifle, unless you cut the whole tree down; but with 

 the rifle it can be had easily. The top of the tree, under 

 the fruit, is soft and spongy. The trees usually gi'ow on 

 the side of the mountain, which is quite steep. By climb- 

 ing up the mountain, opposite the top of the tree, you can get 

 within fifty feet of the fruit, and directly opposite it; then, 

 by firing eight or ten shots from your rifle, you may cut the 

 whole to23 off, and down comes the most delicious fruit that 

 man ever ate. We called it picking fruit with the Marlin. 



The second day we were at this camp, a native came to us 

 and tried hard to buy my rifle. He told us the Peccaries 



