y as red as any river could be. After a storm in the
headwaters of Vermilion Creek I have seen the Green a positively bright
vermilion.

The Arapahos were said to range into Brown's Park; the Utes were all
along the Wonsits Valley and below it on both sides of the river. Then
came the Navajos, ranging up to the San Juan and above.* On the north
side, below the San Juan, were the various bands of Pai Utes, while
on the south were the Puebloan tribes, with the Apaches, Suppais,
Wallapais, etc., while still below came the Mohaves, Cocopas, and Yumas,
with, on the Gila, the Pimas, Papagos, and Maricopas. The 250,000 square
miles of the basin were variously apportioned amongst these tribes, but
their territorial claims were usually well defined.

* For notes on the distribution of tribes see the Seventh Ann. Rep,
Bu. Ethnology; Wheeler's Report, vol. i.; Report of Lieut. Ives, Works
of H. H. Bancroft, and Garces, by Elliott Coues.

The vegetation of the area, especially that of the lower half, possesses
singular characteristics quite in keeping with the extraordinary
topography. Here flourishes the cactus, that rose of the desert, its
lovely blossoms red, yellow, and white, illuminating in spring the arid
wastes. The soft green of its stems and the multiplicity of its forms
and species, are a constant delight. It writhes and struggles across the
hot earth, or spreads out silver-spined branches into 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 as beautiful, with
their tall central rods so richly crowned with bell-like blossoms, the
fantastic Clistoyucca 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 is often twenty-five
feet high, the more distant ones appear to beckon like some uncanny
desert octopus yearning to draw him within reach of those scrawny arms.
The blossom of this monstrous growth is a revelation, so unexpected is
it. A group as large as one's head, pure white, on the extremity of a
dagger-covered bough, it is like an angel amidst bayonets. The pitahaya,
often more than thirty feet high and twelve to twenty-four inches
diameter, is a fit companion for the Joshua, with an equally startling
blossom.

"To go out on the desert... and meet these cacti is like whispering into
the ear of the S