TO THE COCO-MARICOPA VILLAGES. 209 
a mountain range which had long loomed up before 
us, and seemed to present an impassable barrier to our 
progress; but as we drew near, what appeared at a 
distance to be continuous, now showed many passages 
through, of easy access, and with an ascent so gradual 
as to be scarcely apparent. The great mountain 
chain, as it seemed to us to be, was in reality a collec- 
tion of detached ridges and isolated mountains rising 
abruptly from the desert. We were accordingly able 
to keep on our course, winding through these mountains 
with scarcely an ascent or descent worth naming. The 
road was excellent through all the defiles; although 
there were many small gullies requiring care in cross- 
ing, and which shows that there are very heavy rains 
here at times. , 
The vegetation on this desert is the same as on the 
several portions we had from time to time passed over 
in our journey from the Colorado. The great cereus 
here raises its lofty head above all other plants, attain- 
ing its greatest perfection in this barren and desolate 
region. We passed several of gigantic dimensions, 
and others of a variety of forms, exhibiting singular 
contortions. If one unused to these remarkable plants 
should suddenly be brought to this place, where he 
would see before him a vast plain studded with thou- 
sands of these cacti, many of which rise to the height 
of twenty or thirty feet, in a single stem without a 
branch, he would be very likely, particularly if he saw 
them as we did by moonlight, to imagine himself in 
the midst of the ruins of a magnificent palace, the 
columns of which were alone left standing. The lesser 
plants, thinly scattered over the plain, are a dwarfish 
VOL. 1.—14 
