URIQUE AND ITS MINES. 297 
homely adobe houses were beautiful, and 
the most commonplace Mexican, in his 
great sombrero with a serape thrown 
gracefully over his shoulders, added a 
picturesque touch to the scene. Every 
available level spot of land in the valley 
had been turned by the owners into an 
orange grove or a ranch on which to raise 
fruits and vegetables for consumption by 
their families ; and, as all the edible vege¬ 
tation of nearly every clime grew there, 
their tables were always abundantly 
supplied. 
In wandering along the river bank 
I noticed one very effective way the 
natives had to protect their gardens from 
the intrusions of the small boy or even 
smaller animals. On the top of a com¬ 
mon adobe fence they planted a row of 
the cholla cactus, the most prickly of all 
