APRIL. 
109 
branches, is notched from the root to the tip, at regular distances, and 
the structure of the outer surface gives it a certain resemblance to an 
organ. The edges are closely set vsrith tufts of grey prickles, at equal 
distances between which gleams out the bright green colour of the 
plant itself; in May or June, the tops of both branches and trunk are 
adorned with large white blossoms, which are replaced by pleasantly 
tasting fruit in July and August. When dried, this fruit strongly 
resembles a fig, and is a favourite kind of food with the Indians, who 
also prepare a syrup from it by boiling it in earthen vessels. 
If the smaller specimens of the Cereus giganteus that we had seen 
in the morning, excited our astonishment, the feeling was greatly 
augmented, when, on our further journey, we beheld this stately plant 
in all its magnificence. The absence of every other vegetation enabled 
us to distinguish these Cacti columns from a great distance, as they 
stood symmetrically arranged on the heights and declivities of the 
mountains, to which they imparted a most peculiar aspect, though 
certainly not a beautiful one. 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 some¬ 
what 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 preci¬ 
pices, and gazing into the abyss, or over into the pleasant valley of the 
Bill Williams’ Fork, at the flocks of birds that do not venture to rest 
on the thorny arms of the Petahaya; though the wasp, and the gaily 
variegated woodpecker, may be seen taking up their abode in the old 
wounds and scars of sickly or damaged specimens of this singular plant. 
The hedges of Organ Cactus are a feature in the landscape of Mexican 
plains, and we first saw them in perfection on the road between Mexico 
and Pachuca. This plant, the Cereus hexagonus, grows in Italy in the 
open air, but seems not to be turned to account anywhere except in 
Mexico for the purpose to which it is particularly suited. In its wild 
state it grows like a candelabrum, with a thick trunk a few feet high, 
from the top of which it sends out shoots, which, as soon as they have 
room, rise straight upwards in fluted pillars 15 or 20 feet in height. 
Such a plant, with pillars rising side by side and almost touching one 
another, has a curious resemblance to an organ with its pipes, and 
thence its name “ organo.” 
To make a fence, they break off the straight lateral shoots, of the 
height required, and plant them closely side by side, in a trench, 
sufficiently deep to ensure their standing firmly; and it is a curious 
sight to see a labourer bearing on his shoulder one of these vegetable 
pillars, as high as himself, and carefully guarding himself against its 
spines. A hedge perfectly impassable is obtained at once ; the Cactus 
rooting so readily that it is rare to see a gap where one has died. The 
villagers surround their gardens with these fences of Cactus, which 
often line the road for miles togetlier. Foreigners used to point out 
such villages to us, and remark that they seemed “ well organised,” a 
small joke which unfortunately bears translation into all European 
languages, and was inflicted without mercy upon us as new comers. 
