416 SANTA CRUZ 
from five to eight hundred feet, either abruptly or with 
steep-sloping banks. 
e saw here, for the first time, the giant Cereus 
(Cereus giganteus), or petahaya, of the Mexicans. This 
monster of the cactus family assumes various forms ; 
sometimes rising in a single fluted column to the height 
of thirty or forty feet; sometimes, at eight or ten feet 
from the ground, it divides into two or more branches, 
which turn upwards like the prongs of an inverted 
fork; others again throw off four or more arms, dis- 
posed with great symmetry, and having the appearance 
of gigantic candelabra. These covered the rocks on 
_ both sides for miles; and among them grew numerous 
humbler species of the same family, some loaded with 
rich red fruit, and others trailing their snaky branches 
over the ground, altogether forming a striking and 
peculiar vegetation, unlike any thing we had before 
seen. 
After winding our way about ten miles through 
this defile, we again emerged into a plain or broad 
valley, through which still coursed the beautiful little 
_ stream which we first met at Cocospera; though by 
what name to call it, I hardly know. Like many of 
the largest streams which wind among the mountains 
and across the plains of Mexico, this bears several 
names, according to the towns which stand upon its 
bank. Cocospera, Imuriz, San Ignacio, and San Miguel, 
have been applied to it in turn; and I cannot find, from 
the maps which I have consulted, that it bears any 
general name. It forms the western branch of the 
Sonora River, one of the principal streams in the State. 
~ When we again found ourselves in the open coun- 
