Strange Vegetation 
69 
amongst these tribes, but their territorial claims were usually 
well defined. 
The vegetation of the area, especially that of the lower half, 
possesses singular 
characteristics quite 
in keeping with the 
extraordinary to¬ 
pography. Here 
flourishes the cac¬ 
tus, that rose of the 
desert, its lovely 
blossoms red, yel¬ 
low, and white, il¬ 
luminating in spring 
the arid wastes. 
The soft green of 
its stems and the 
multiplicity of its 
forms and species, 
are a constant de¬ 
light. It writhes 
and struggles across 
the hot earth, or 
spreads out silver- 
spined branches in¬ 
to a tree-like bush, 
or, in the great 
pitahaya, rises in 
fierce dignity like a 
monitor against the 
deep blue sky. And 
the yuccas are quite The Barrel Cactus, 
as beautiful, with Pencil sketch by F. S. Dellenbaugh. 
their tall central 
rods so richly crowned with bell-like blossoms, the fantastic 
Clistoyiicca arborescens, or Joshua tree, being more in harmony 
with the archaic landscape than any other plant there. As 
the traveller crosses one of the open forests of this tree, which 
