as the flavor of the fig and strawberry
combined. It is dislodged by the greedy birds which feed on it and by
arrows shot from bows in the hands of the Indians. The natives esteem
the fruit as a great delicacy, and use it both fresh and dried and in
the form of a treacle or preserve.

The ocotillo, or mountain cactus, is a handsome shrub that grows in
rocky soil upon the foothills and consists of a cluster of nearly
straight poles of brittle wood covered with thorns and leaves. It
blossoms during the early summer and each branch bears on its crest a
bunch of bright crimson flowers.

If set in a row the plant makes an ornamental hedge and effective fence
for turning stock. The seemingly dry sticks are thrust into yet drier
ground where they take root and grow without water. Its bark is
resinous and a fagot of dry sticks makes a torch that is equal to a
pineknot.

The echinocactus, or bisnaga, is also called "The Well of the Desert."
It has a large barrel-shaped body which is covered with long spikes
that are curved like fishhooks. It is full of sap that is sometimes
used to quench thirst. By cutting off the top and scooping out a
hollow, the cup-shaped hole soon fills with a sap that is not exactly
nectar but can be drunk in an emergency. Men who have been in danger
of perishing from thirst on the desert have sometimes been saved by
this unique method of well digging.

Greasewood, or creasote bush as it is sometimes called on account of
its pungent odor, grows freely on the desert, but has little or no
value and cattle will not touch it. Like many other desert plants it
is resinous and if thrown into the fire, the green leaves spit and
sputter while they burn like hot grease in a frying pan.

The mesquite tree is peculiarly adapted to the desert and is the most
valuable tree that grows in the southwest. As found growing on the dry
mesas of Arizona, it is only a small bush, but on the moist land of a
river bottom it becomes a large forest tree. A mesquite forest stands
in the Santa Cruz valley south of Tucson that is a fair sample of its
growth under favorable conditions.

Its wood is hard and fine grained and polishes beautifully. It is very
durable and is valuable for lumber, fence posts and firewood. On the
dry mesas it seems to go mostly to root that is out of all proportion
to the size of the tree. The amount of firewood that is sometimes
obtained by digging up the root of a small mesquite bush