130 
SERI LAND 
prevailing trees, which are usually little more than shrubs, are 
mesquite, catclaw (^Acacia greggii), and paloverde {Parkinsonia 
microphglla) on plain and foothill, and paloblanca, torote, and 
torotito among the mountains ; the prevailing shrub is the creo- 
sote bush (Larrea tridentnta), with a variety of small mimosas 
and other brambles, all scrubby and all beset with thorns or en- 
dowed with foul flavors and odors ; and about' the few perma- 
nent waters there are patches of bamboo-like reeds, which are 
used l)y the Seri in making balsas and sometimes in building- 
bowers for hal)itation. It is not too much to say that there is no 
soil in Seriland, for the scant moisture and slow-growing plants 
do not produce humus; and the gray or ashen earth between 
the scattered plant-colonies glares starkly in the glowing sun- 
light, inflaming the eyes of the traveler as in snow-blindness. 
Two general features of the vegetal life of the region may l)e 
noted : Partly by reason of the absence of humus, the superficial 
deposits are comminuted mechanically but imperfectly reduced 
chemically, so that the}^ vaiy from place to place with the varia- 
tion in rocks and quantity .of water, and thereb}^ tend to produce 
local floras, or a provincial habit of the general flora ; while it 
results from the dearth of water anti strength of sun that the 
plants strive against the inorganic environment rather than 
against each other for continued existence, and are thereby 
brought into a curious cooi)eration, whereby nearly all plants 
(and animate organisms as well) gather into colonies for mutual 
support. These relations, thougli highly significant and attract- 
ive, need not be pursued here; it suffices to say that they pro- 
foundly affect the flora which, as even a casual traveler cannot 
fail to note, varies notably from place to place, and is generally 
gathered in close-set tufts or bunches, with broad bare spaces 
between-. The flora on island and mainland is essentially the 
same ; and the coasts, insular and continental, are skirted with 
a zone of i)ulpy-leaved shrubs and bushes apparently watered 
by fogs. 
The fauna of Seriland includes the bighorn and bura (a large, 
sluggish deer) in the mountains, the antelope, peccary, and black- 
tail deer on tlie plains, with the jackrabbit and coyote every- 
where ; the jaguar is reputed common and the puma rarer — the 
assemblage of large game animals being rich enough to tempt 
the sportsman. The turkey is said to haunt the saguesa forests 
and the California quail may be seen hourly, and small birds are 
surprisingly numerous, while hawks, eagles, and burrowing owls 
