The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-07-04

There are some genuine pineries
about Prescott such as one sees above I
PlacerviHe and through one of these |
real pine woods had a most enjoyable
horseback ride. From them and under
their spreading branches and lofty
crowns we refgned our horses from time
to time and looked out from our ele-
waited positions to wide stretches OF
valleys, mountains and plains, with
snowy range in the distance. We rode
ON the summit OF mountain, a an
elevation of 1000 feet, for about four
miles with no road, simply picking our
way over the pine leaf carpet Espe-
cially did We think 1t fine as we APP
preached a Woodman's camp. Me-
thought the incense burned in the tenn
pie of Pharoe could not be sweeter than
the. odor rising from these stacks OF
freshly cut cedar wood.
There are many diversities between
this trip and one taken to abandoned
Fort Mcdowell, thirty miles from
Phoenix, with the mercury at fever
heat. Across desert and through groves
of cacti we travelled an hour after sun
to it's setting.
Fifteen miles from Phoenix we were
treated to a rodeo exhibition. With
tunerring aim the famous cowboy
hurled the RATA The 5000 head of
cattle had recently changed hands at
SO a head, meaning every animal on
foot AS we felt uncertain as to the
divergence of our road, we made in
Quiry of the cattlemen who, perhaps
thinking to add to our limited expert
ence, lily advised us.
After travelling three hours our road
ran out" Do you realize what that
meant-lost on the desert, without
water? Fortunately, we sighted
building in the distance, which proved
to be the Presbyterian Mission for the
Salt River. Indian Reservation, where
we were correctly informed as to road
and water. AS we drove in the direc-
ton of Mcdowell. I wondered that we
had not tired of the monotonous way
side. Our way led occasionally by or
near the giant sahuaro, or giant cactus,
a green, prickly shaft rising in air
twenty to forty feet. Some have an
arm, or several arms, reaching out and
up ten or fifteen feet from the ground,
/ but always reminding one of grim
sentinels on duty. l have read of these
cacti being called weird and ugly, but
the same author spoke of the braying
The occatilla is variety especially
pretty, and the only cactus I have seen
having leaves, which are a bright
green and run parallel with the stem or
long prongs.
Just as we were emerging from one
of these groves and approaching the
denser choyas and giants, we met an
Indian mescal party. 1t was most
the SI1Hdan 70 ,,o of Monies
slipping out from among the cacti with
their Indian riders in varied costumes.
The latter We're chatting and swinging
| their hands and feet and having a jolly
| time altogether. AS they neared us I
! discovered them to be all young people,
and each carried a big, round ball of
cooked mescal on either side of his or
her pony. The girls, like the boys, rode
astride and allowed their feet to drop
over the balls of mescal much as a man
would sit on a box. Soon we sighted
the old folks, who came jogging along
very quiet and sober. Their ponies
We're loaded much heavier, and they
rode like the lads and lassies. They
formed most picturesque group, with
the cactus and the haze of Verdi Mesa
and the frowning mountain cliffs in
the background. We could smell the
mescal two or three hundred yards off.
4. They dig and cook it in the mountains
make whisky wine and candy of it,
and eat it for food.
Mescal is a plant similar to what is
! known in California as the century
plant. Indians select a locality where
this plant grows in abundance. They
dig a deep hole, line it with heavy
rocks, for the purpose of holding the
heat, give it draft, and in this they
: burn quantities of boughs until the
rocks are red-hot. After the boughs
have burned to embers the pit is filled
with mescal, which is dug up by the
roots, the outside leaves cut off, giving
it the appearance of a huge cabbage
head. These are dropped into the pit,
covered with sand, and a great fire
built on top This is usually lighted in
the evening, and the young folks dance,
frolic and play pranks in their rude
way until late hours of morning The
pit is then allowed to cool, opened, and
it contents found to be cooked to jelly.
1t is a sweet succulent, not unpleasant
even to those unaccustomed to it. ana
greatly enjoyed by the natives When
boiled down and sliced it makes a de-
licious confection, but when diluted and
fermented makes the most diabolical of
whiskies outrivaling the lasting effects
of champagne.
Just as we We're thinking we had
missed the fort we drove through it.
At the canteen we halted, as it was
best preserved, hoping to find some