Then we take you into the presence of the giant cactus, Sahuaro, which in a previous volume we have called the Sage of the desert; steadfast, towering pillarlike fifty feet into the air, he gives a sense of power to all who behold him, some certain realization of the grandeur and the mystery of God’s creations here on Earth. The Serpent cacti, with their grotesque angular arms projecting like so many sinuous tentacles, claim our attention next; and the Prickly Pears, advance guard for the entire cactus clan, pass before our gaze. Many, many others, of fantastic shapes and distorted growth, freaks of nature, also numbers of God’s glorious creations, flowers of ethereal beauty, trees, majestic and noble, crowd into this picture stretched before our eyes in one vast scene of limitless sand, the Great American Desert. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE vii FOREWORD ix I A DESERT FASHION SHOW 1 (_Cereus_) II CACTUS SPINES AND PECULIARITIES 27 III THE BABY CACTUS 32 (_Pincushion_) IV THE PARADE OF THE DESERT FLOWERS 62 (_Hedgehog or Strawberry_) V THE PAINTED CANVAS OF THE DESERT 88 (_Prickly Pears_) VI MINIATURE FORTRESSES ON THE DESERT 119 (_Cholla_) VII A DESERT GRAVEYARD 153 (_Barrel or Bisnaga_) VIII CONCLUSION 185 GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 187 INDEX 191 ILLUSTRATIONS