rie wanderings. The whole party
were delighted at the idea of such a "scout," and exhibited as much
excitement as if I was leading them to a skirmish with guerilleros.

The country through which we passed was at first a dense chapparal,
consisting of the various thorny shrubs and plants for which this part
of Mexico is so celebrated. The greater proportion belonged to the
family of _leguminosae_--_robinias, gleditschias_, and the Texan acacias
of more than one species, there known as _mezquite_. Aloes, too, formed
part of the under-growth, to the no small annoyance of the traveller--
the wild species known as the _lechuguilla_, or pita-plant, whose core
is cooked for food, whose fibrous leaves serve for the manufacture of
thread, cordage, or cloth--while its sap yields by distillation the
fiery _mezcal_. Here and there, a tree yucca grew by the way, its
fascicles of rigid leaves reminding one of the plumed heads of Indian
warriors. Some I saw with edible fruits growing in clusters, like
bunches of bananas. Several species are there of these fruit-bearing
yuccas in the region of the Rio Grande, as yet unknown to the scientific
botanist. I observed also the _palmilla_, or soap-plant, another yucca
whose roots yield an excellent substitute for soap; and various forms of
cactus--never out of sight on Mexican soil--grew thickly around, a
characteristic feature of the landscape. Plants of humbler stature
covered the surface, among which the syngenesists predominated; while
the fetid _artemisia_, and the still more disagreeably odorous creosote
plant (_Larrea Mexicana_) grew upon spots that were sandy and arid.
Pleasanter objects to the eye were the scarlet panicles of the
_Fouquiera splendens_, then undescribed by botanists, and yet to become
a favourite of the arboretums.

I was in no mood for botanising at the time, but I well remember how I
admired this elegant species--its tall culm-like stems, surmounted by
panicles of brilliant flowers, rising high above the level of the
surrounding thicket, like banners above a host. Not that I possess the
refined taste of a lover of flowers, and much less then; but cold must
be the heart that could look upon the floral beauty of Mexico, without
remembering some portion of its charms. Even the rudest of my followers
could not otherwise than admire; and once or twice, as we journeyed
along, I could hear them give utterance to that fine epithet of the
heart's desire, "Beautifu