CACTI, SHRUBS, AND FLOWERS 55 



eater came forth meat," one may say of the hiznaga, 

 "Out of the drinker came forth water." 



Next, if not first in obtrusiveness, is the cholla 

 (pronounced choy'a), Opuntia higelovii. First it cer- 

 tainly is in villainous traits and in the ill-regard of 

 every desert traveller. It is an ugly object three 

 or four feet high, with stubby arms standing out 

 like amputated stumps. The older parts are usually 

 black with decay, the rest of a sickly greenish white, 

 and the whole thing is covered with horrible barbed 

 spines, uncountable in quantity and detestable in 

 every regard. It has, moreover, a very vile habit of 

 shedding its joints, and these roll by instinct into 

 the places where they can most easily achieve their 

 purpose, which is to stab the feet of horses and spike 

 pedestrians through their boots, as they readily can 

 do. Every one who has travelled with horses on the 

 desert !has had the job of ridding his animals of these 

 devils, which in many places grow so thickly that to 

 dodge them is out of the question. The Indians say 

 that they jump at you: this sounds like an exaggera- 

 tion, but upon my word I don't know. Often when I 

 have felt sure that I passed clear of a certain cholla 

 I found he had me after all. 



I remember some years ago crossing the Devil's 

 Garden, a great cactus thicket between the White- 

 water Wash and Seven Palms. My companion and 

 his Arizona cow-pony were both old desert habitues 

 and past-masters in cactus, while my mount also 

 hailed from the Arizona ranges, where cactus is "the 

 daily round, the common task." Yet our combined 

 sagacity came far short of keeping us out of trouble. 



