Neither has had any water since the last drop drank amid the waggons, before commencing the fight; and since then a fervent sun shining down upon them, with no food save crickets caught in the plain, an occasional horned frog, and some fruit of the opuntia cactus-the last obtained sparingly.
"The Lone Ranche"
Captain Mayne Reid
Here, too, one finds another strange plant, plentiful over on the sandy peninsula of Coatue, the opuntia or prickly pear, a variety of cactus common enough in Mexico and portions of our Southwest, but surprising on this island.
"Old Plymouth Trails"
Winthrop Packard
The prickly pear cactus, or Indian fig, of the genus opuntia is a common as well as a numerous family.
"Arizona Sketches"
Joseph A. Munk