44 CACTACEOUS PLANTS. 



to which they imparted a most peculiar aspect. Wonderful as each plant 

 Is, when regarded singly, as a grand specimen of vegetable life, these 

 solemn silent forms, which stand motionless even in a hurricane, give a 

 somewhat dreary character to the landscape. Some look like petrified 

 giants stretching out their arms in speechless pain, and others stand like- 

 lonely sentinels keeping their dreary watch on the edge of precipices." In 

 Dr. Bngelmann's magnificent work on the Oaotacese of the Boundary Survey 

 is an admirable engraving of such a scene on the banks of the Gila, New 

 Mexico, from a drawing by Mollhausen ; and so well does this pourtray the- 

 characters that it has been reproduced in several works (including the Flore 

 des Serves, vol. xv., and the Treasury of Botany). Some of the giants are 

 shown with enormous stems, from which proceed a number of branches, 

 which, when a short distance from the main stem, assume a rigidly perpen- 

 dicular position, and give a caudelabra-like appearance to the plant. One 

 is represented with eight branches, varying in size, while older specimens- 

 •which have lost the greater portion of the soft cellular tissue have only 

 the woody or fibrous matter remaining, and this has been most strangely 

 torn, until the ends of the branches resemble birch brooms. In this state- 

 they remain for many years, still further increasing the peculiarities of the 

 landscape. 



Julius Froebel has given a very graphic description of a Cereus district 

 n his "Travels in Central America," page 498, which is worth reproduc- 

 tion here : " In the lower part of the valley of Santa Cruz the gigantic 

 columnar Cactus, Cereus giganteus, is first seen upon the road. The 

 inhabitants of the country call it Saguarro ; but various authors, and' 

 recently Bartlett, have applied the name of Pitaya (Pita-haya) to this 

 remarkable plant. This name, however, belongs to another species of Cactus 

 of a similar but much lower growth. The Saguarro presents a thick fluted 

 column, the size of a man's body, and 30, 40, and even 50 feet high, with 

 sometimes three or four branches at its top, the whole looking like a gigantic- 

 candelabrum. The fig-shaped edible fruit grows at the edge on the top of 

 the columns ; and from the great height of the latter it would be difficult 

 to get at them did not this remarkable plant itself afford the means of 

 reaching it. The old stems, when decayed, split into a number of thin poles, 

 standing in a circle the height of the entire column, enveloped in a loose- 

 network ; and by the aid of these the traveller is enabled to knock down the 

 fruit. I have been told that these poles form an article of export from the 

 port of Guaymas, and in Europe are made into walking sticks, and sold 

 under the name of 'Spanish canes.' I cannot, however, vouch for the- 

 correctness of this account. The Pimas at the old Mission of San Xavier 

 del Bac had a large store of Saguarro fruit, which is used as food in various 

 ways. It is eaten fresh ; the sap is boiled to a syrup, known throughout 

 Sonora by the name of ' Miel de Saguarro ; ' and a flour is prepared ot the 

 cleaned and dried seeds, which have some resemblance in appearance and' 

 taste to Poppy seeds, and are contained in the fruit in great quantities. 

 This flour is made partly into bread and partly into a chocolate-like drink^ 



