extending all over the northern part and to a less extent in the south, is what is generically known as sage brush, consisting of different species of artemisia, mainly A. tridentata. The pervading odour of the West is the

gray tint.

smell of the sage.

The prevailing colour is its dull

There is probably no plant on earth which enjoys so complete a monopoly of such enormous areas. Over hundreds of thousands of square miles, a region larger than Western Europe, this plant well-nigh monopolises the soil.

Various species of cacti are abundant, and especially so in the south. These assume many odd and grotesque forms,

The prickly pear is perhaps the most abundant. Globe cacti, ranging from an inch to a foot in diameter, are found in abundance all over the desert, together with many other species, the strangest of which is tree cactus. Imagine the stump of a tree with two or three branching

arms, bent out at right angles, extending from it, the whole 20 or 30 feet, perhaps, in height. Imagine the desert plain covered with these spectral-looking objects, almost the sole vegetation upon it, as are the deserts of Mohave, Gila, and of Salton Lake. Another characteristic plant of this region is the yucca, or Spanish bayonet, of many species, which forms dense clumps of spine-like leaves two feet in length and stiff and hard as of steel. Generally these start direct from the ground, but in some species they spread from the top of a tree trunk 20 or 30 feet in height.

The mezquite is found only in the south, mainly in Texas. It is a shrub or low tree seldom reaching a height of more than 25 feet, with a light green, feathery foliage. Its forests cover an immense area in central and southern Texas.

The Fauna

The native fauna of the United States, which before the settlement by whites was very abundant and varied,

has almost disappeared before the march of settlement, and many tragic stories can be told of the practical extinction of large game.

Here and there in areas which settlement has passed by, or where the game is protected by dense forests, there are still found the remnants of the immense numbers which

once peopled the land. In the fastnesses of the Appalachian Mountains and the Adirondacks there are still found enough deer and black bears to tempt the hunter. Occasionally one still sees upon the Great

Plains few scattered antelope, the remnants of the vast herds which once ranged

ANTELOPE.

а

over that region. The buffalo has practically disappeared ; its millions have been reduced until now probably not over fifty survivors still exist in freedom. These are supposed to range between the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers on the high plains of Montana, and in the Yellowstone Park, where some protection is afforded them. Elk and mule

deer, mountain sheep, and Rocky Mountain goats are still found in a few localities, such as Yellowstone Park and the high mountains south and east of it

, the Salmon River Mountains of central Idaho, the Bitter Root Mountains and the Kootenai country of northern Idaho. Elsewhere in the West large game is now extremely scarce. Upon the high mountains bears—grizzly, cinnamnon, and black—are still found, but by no means in the

coyotes, and other wolves have diminished in number astonishingly

The Buffalo

In the case of the buffalo we have before us probably the most startling instance of the practical extinction of a species of large animal that there is on record. Twentyfive years ago this was probably the most abundant animal in the entire West. Their range at that time was mainly confined to the plains, although a variety of the animal was found throughout most of the mountain regions to the westward. Their number was almost incalculable. It is probably no exaggeration to say that the plains afforded pasturage to many millions of them, as the records of shipment of hides indicate.