Adventures of a Young Naturalist
unpleasantly cold; it was no longer the uproar, but the silence, which
awoke in my mind the reveries of loneliness.
We rose before dawn, perfectly benumbed and hardly able to move our
lips. L'Encuerado stirred up the fire so as to get the coffee ready. The
first ray of light showed the ground covered with a white shroud of
bright hoar-frost. Lucien had never seen this phenomenon before, and was
never tired of admiring it. Sumichrast explained to him that the drops
of dew, which every morning may be seen glittering on the grass in hot
countries, freeze in situations of great altitude, and produce those
beautiful transparent globules which, owing to the refraction of light,
assume so beauteous an appearance.
The rays of the sun warmed us but little, so I hastened our preparations
for departure. After skirting the edge of the lake, we once more found
ourselves among rocks. The summit which we had traversed was doubtless
the crater of some extinct volcano. I took a farewell look at the
gigantic semicircle, edged with mountain crests, ere commencing a
journey quite as difficult as that of the day before, through the
immense stones which had been vomited forth by the burning mountain.
More than once we got into a _cul-de-sac_, and we sat down utterly
discouraged.
For the last time I examined the horizon. We were now standing on the
highest summit of the Cordillera; opposite us, as far as we could see,
rose verdure-clad peaks, which gradually diminished in height. We were
again about to meet with tropical vegetation, and should ere long reach
the plains and forests of the _Terre-Chaude_. The way seemed direct and
easy; but how many obstacles must be overcome, how many valleys must be
crossed, ere we could reach our destination!
We descended the slope by a giant staircase, each step of which must
have been at least seven or eight feet in height. More than once the
lasso was called into use; but all obstacles were at last safely
overcome. I can not describe the joy I felt upon once more seeing
pine-trees. We sought in vain for any traces of the hurricane; this side
of the mountain had evidently not been visited by it.
The slope was now more gradual; our pace became faster, and a few oaks
were in sight. A rumbling noise made us stop and listen attentively, but
l'Encuerado, who was more expert than we were in making out distant
sounds, told us that it was a torrent. Squirrels gambolled on the
branches as we passed by, and toucans seemed to tempt us to stop; but we
were all anxious to reach the waterfall. Ere long, oaks and birches, and
afterwards guava-trees, surrounded us on every side. The ground was now
level, and in less than half an hour l'Encuerado conducted us to the
edge of an immense ravine, at the bottom of which there was a roaring
torrent.
It was not long before the steep bank became less abrupt, and we
established our bivouac. While we were cutting down some branches,
Sumichrast put his finger to his lips and seized his gun. A slight noise
was heard in the thickets, and our companion disappeared. We were
listening, holding our breath, when we heard the screech as of an owl;
we knew it was a call, so l'Encuerado also glided away through the
bushes.
"Why did M. Sumichrast call l'Encuerado?" asked Lucien, in a low voice.
"Probably because he has discovered the trail of some animal."
I had scarcely finished speaking, when a movement in the leaves
attracted my attention. A fine fox, with an eager look, and its tail
lowered, rushed past me. I fired, but without effect, for it bolted off
among the trees, followed by Gringalet. Almost at the same moment, a
report told me that l'Encuerado had also seen game.
Lucien was very sorry that I had missed the fox; I only regretted having
lost a charge of powder, and also having awkwardly put to flight the
quarry which was probably being pursued by my companions. I then
continued my work of cutting off the branches, and told Lucien to strike
the flint and light the fire. Thanks to l'Encuerado's lessons, he
managed his work much better than I had expected.
We heard Sumichrast give a call, to which Lucien answered, and the
disappointed hunter joined us.
"What did you fire at?" he inquired of me.
"At a fox, which I missed; were you chasing it?"
"No; I caught sight of a doe and its fawn, but I could not get near
them."
"And where is l'Encuerado?"
"He wanted to shoot some bird, so as not to come back quite
empty-handed."
"Chanito! Hiou! Hiou! Chanito!" we heard shouted in the distance.
"Hallo! hallo!" answered the boy.
And, soon after, l'Encuerado returned, carrying a fawn on his shoulders.
"Oh! what a pretty little creature!" cried Lucien; "why didn't you take
it alive?"
"Bullets are the only things that can run as fast as these animals,
Chanito."
"What became of the mother?" asked Sumichrast.
"I was not able to get near her; but at all events, we have more than
enough meat now, both for to-day and to-morrow."
Lucien took possession of the fawn. He had always longed to possess one
of these animals alive. He duly examined the slender legs and tapering
muzzle of the poor creature, whose fawn-colored back, dotted over with
symmetrically arranged spots, would change in color as it got older.
"Well, Master 'Sunbeam,' in what class will you place this mammal?"
asked Sumichrast, addressing Lucien.
"It is not like any of those I know."
"Well, then, you never can have seen goats, cows, or sheep. It is a
ruminant, or an animal which has three or four stomachs. Its lower jaw
is provided with eight incisors, while the upper jaw has nothing but a
cushion or gum."
"That's right enough," said Lucien, opening the fawn's mouth.
"In all ruminants, the food, when swallowed, passes into the first
stomach; it is then brought up to be chewed again; this is called
'chewing the cud.' You must often have seen a cow or a sheep sitting
quiet in the sun and constantly chewing."
"Yes," replied Lucien, "and l'Encuerado always told me that they had
eaten some bitter herb."
"His explanation is about as correct as that given by the Mexicans, who
say that an animal which chews the cud is reading the newspaper. Another
characteristic of these animals is, that their feet are cloven."
"And they have horns!" cried Lucien.
"Not all of them; for instance, the camel, llama, and musk-deer, are
exceptions."
It remained for us to decide how our fawn should be cooked. After a
discussion on the subject, we left the point entirely to l'Encuerado,
and I made my way down to the bottom of the ravine. Upon lifting up some
stones and pieces of bark, I discovered several species of the
_Carabus_ family. Lucien caught on a shrub some insects of a very
peculiar shape; at the first glance, Sumichrast recognized them as
_tettigones_.
"These insects belong to the _Hemeptera_ family," said he, "therefore
they are allied to the bug and the grasshopper; these insects have
neither mandibles[O] nor jaws; their mouth is a sort of beak, formed of
a jointed tube extending along the breast, which you can see very
plainly. This order is a very numerous one, and the two species you have
just found are peculiar to Mexico."
"Here is one like a fowl, and another like a canoe."
"You are quite right, and you will meet with others which are still more
singular looking."
The appearance of these little creatures pleased Lucien very much, and,
as he was letting them run about on his hand, he saw them jump off and
disappear. He was just going to return to the shrub on which he had
caught them, when his attention was attracted by an immense dragon-fly,
commonly called in Mexico _the devil's horse_, and in France
_demoiselle_. The beautiful insect, after flying round and round,
settled on a plant, and was immediately caught in the young hunter's
net. The prisoner had greenish eyes, a yellow body, and its wings were
dotted over with black and scarlet. It doubled back its tapering body,
as if to try and sting the hand which held it, and shook its gauzy wings
with a kind of metallic sound. A half-eaten mosquito hung out of its
mouth, and, although the dragon-fly was sadly bruised, it continued its
meal, much to the amusement of Lucien, who hardly expected to find such
tiger-like habits in an insect so elegant in form and so harmless in
appearance.
"It is of the order _Neuroptera_," I said to him; "thus called because
of the veins on its four wings. This insect first lives in the water in
the form of a larva, in which state it remains a year--it is very much
like the insect you are holding, only, all that can be seen of its wings
are small swellings, which grow longer each time the animal changes its
skin. This swelling is a sort of sheath to the beautiful gauzy wings
which distinguish all the Neuroptera, and the dragon-fly in particular."
"What! does the dragon-fly begin its life by living in water like a
fish?"
"Yes, and they are quite as voracious in that state as when they are
perfect insects. The larva changes to a grub, and greedily devours
water-lizards and young fish; after a certain time, which varies
according to the species, it rises to the top of the water by crawling
up a reed, and remains perfectly motionless, exposed to the rays of the
sun; suddenly, the skin covering the head bursts open, and the
dragon-fly, spotted with black, blue, and green, takes flight, and loses
no time in darting upon the first insect which comes within its reach."
My lecture was interrupted by the cry of "Hallo! hallo!" from
l'Encuerado. It was his substitute for a dinner-bell.
FOOTNOTE:
[O] A very hard substance placed immediately under the upper lip, which
insects use for cutting and tearing their food.
CHAPTER XI.
A BLUE LIZARD.--THE GUAVA-TREE.--A CATARACT.--NEST OF YELLOW
SERPENTS.--A VEGETABLE HELMET.--THE KINGFISHER.--HUNTING
WATER-FLEAS.--THE TADPOLE.--A COLLECTION OF WATER-BUGS.
The rice-soup, our every-day fare, was, on this occasion, followed by
fawn cutlets broiled on the embers, accompanied by potatoes. This
precious tubercle, in its savage state, only reminded us very slightly
of its cultivated progeny. The pulp, instead of being floury, is soft,
transparent, and almost tasteless. That, however, did not prevent us
from eating them, and doing justice to our venison.
While we were smoking a cigar, which was called by Sumichrast,
according to circumstances, the calumet of repose, of council, or of
digestion, Lucien returned to the shrub on which he had previously found
the insects. He collected a great number of these, and also discovered a
third species, which was shaped like a triangle, with two horns at its
base. He ran to show us these miniature bulls. Afterwards, armed with a
long branch by way of a lever, he tried to raise up a decayed root
covered with moss. He succeeded to do it, after some trouble, and saw,
cowering down among the roots, a beautiful lizard; it had a greenish
back, and its mouth and the sides of its body were bright blue; it was a
variety which we had never before observed. The little animal, doubtless
dazzled by the light, allowed itself to be caught, and then suddenly
bending down its head, bit the boy's finger, who at once dropped it.
L'Encuerado soon caught the runaway.
"Didn't you know that lizards were harmless?" asked Sumichrast of
Lucien.
"That is why they bite, I suppose," replied the boy, shaking his head.
"Yes," said the naturalist, "but you needn't be afraid; its bite is not
venomous.
"'This brute is surely not disposed to strife,
But you attack it, it'll defend its life.'"
Night came on. A multitude of insects whirled round and round our fire,
burning their wings as if they enjoyed it. Lucien wanted to know what