The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-09-04

BY joint, and rich, tenacious gum
exudes from the surface, causing It to
burn like pine when it is entirely green.
There are two varieties of what is called
the bulb. These grow in the form of q
ball and nearly the size of a pint cup.
The one variety is armed with thorns
half an inch in length, the other with q
different kind of thorn, much resem- |
bling and about the length of porcu- |
pines quill. These thorns are as sharp |
as needles, and require but little pres
sure to penetrate their entire length
into the foot of a man or the hoof of
horse. There is strong, tall bird on
these plains called the road-runner,
so called because it is very feet of
foot and frequently runs on the
road, before the stage. 1t is the natu-
raj enemy of the tarantula and rattle
snake, and when it finds either of these
animals asleep it surrounds the uncon-
scious creature with wall or hedge of
this prickly plant, and then, to awake
it, throws one over on its own body.
The animal, writhing in pain, attempts
to escape, but in the effort meets ter
rible death. The variety having the
short thorns bears a red-colored fruit,
about the size of a small peach; it is
very sweet and the juice flows from a
gold pen as beautiful red ink. There is
another species which bears different
kind of fruit resembling q cucumber
about two-thirds matured. The pulp is
of the consistency of the banana, but
much sweeter and very full of black,
fiat seeds, the size of dime. As far as
1 have been able to ascertain there are
three kinds of fruit growing on as many
different species of cacti in this desert
land. Another kind, priced more than
all the rest by the Indians, very much
resembles our century plant. The wild
Apaches have for ages depended large
ly on this sustenance. They boil the
root, make it into mush and thus eat it,
and from the balance of the plant make
a sour drink, which they greatly enjoy.
Much more might be said of this inter
esting plant, but will return to our
line of travel. As the sun ascends to-
wards the meridian the heat becomes
intense. The thermometer in these
valleys stands part of the day at 129
| degrees. Our canteens are often
pressed to our lips, and we saturate a
handkerchief with cold water and lay it
upon the top of the head, and, laying
aside our hats, commit ourselves to the
cooling effects of the evaporation. Thus
the tourist may save himself from SUM-
stroke or brain fever.
| We look away to the southwest and
| think of Death Valley-so called be-
cause it is rainless district, and on ac-
count of a tragic scene that occurred
there in 1848. At tina. time a company
of emigrants from the East to Califor-
MIA attempted to cross it, but their sup
ply of water becoming exhausted they
all persisted. Two years ago saw a
member of the United States surveying
expedition through this district and he
told me they found the wagons OF the
unfortunate party, and that the iron on
the wagons was as bright as it had been
the day they entered. The air is SO en-
tirely void of moisture that q bird, in
attempting to fly across the valley, falls
to the ground and expires. Our driver
points to places by the way and tells Of
those who have fallen and died, or OF
suffering mortals who have been picked
up in q helpless condition. Here is
where men learn to appreciate the val
ne of water, and yet there is none fl
to drink in all this vast country. In
the valleys it is very warm and full oi
alkali, and on the plateaus it is SC
strongly impregnated with carbonate
of lime that it is unsafe to drink unless
it has been boiled to precipitate the
lime. We drove at one time for dis
tance of fifty miles without seeing any
sign of spring or well or running brook
We now approach hills that have beer
visible for hours, and find them to give
unmistakable evidence of volcanic ori
gin. They are as dingy and black as i
the fires of thousand years had en-
| t,o 10 crpvv Mi
Sometimes they seem to run in distinc
times are broken by broad val
leys, or rise in isolated and indie
pendent peaks. Now they are far in
either side, only few hundred fee
away. The date palms become NOR,
numerous as we advance, and presen,
fantastic appearance. They grow
about the size of man and have 1
bunch of leaves on the top, resembling
q mans head, so that even at q com
paratively short distance they appear
as human beings. We repeatedly
asked our driver whether the objects II
the distance were not likely to be In
dians, but his answer was always veri
fed as we approached them. and WI
found them to be what he declared
they were, "nothing but date palms.
My travelling companion told mi
! that one night while camping on thu
desert he awoke from sound sleep ant
: seeing as he supposed, an Indian neal
; the camp, drew his revolver and fired
Upon further examination he found tht
bullet had entered q palm tree instead
of an Indians body. The heat of th'
, day had passed and we are fatiguet
and ready for rest, but there is no res
for the traveller. The horses ar,
changed and the drivers are relieved
but the weary tourist, having no plac'
to lodge for the night and there being
no opportunity of going forward befor'
the same hour the next day, we KEEP
our seats, determined to make the bes
of our. accommodations; but with al
our efforts to be brave that was tn,
longest night of our life., 1t was reall.
necessary to keep awake to preven
falling off the wagon. There are deel
gulches, which the Mexicans call aroya
washed in the sand, very steep and full
of rocks, and he who enters one o
these in a dreamy state may leave tn
wagon very suddenly without any for
NAL invitation. One night subsequen
to this we had just passed an aroy'
when the bolt pin of the wagon broke
and while the team ran away with tn
front part of the wagon the passenger
were pitched violently forward on tn
sand. Had the break occurred in tn
gulch, where the greatest strain wa
!; upon the iron pin, we would probabl.
, ave b cen badly hurt or instantl..
killed. After getting up from tn
, sand looking at the situation l wa
more than ever confirmed in the belle
of special Providence.-Cor. Philadel
phia Times. ..E
Who Wouldn't Be an Editor.