Adventures of a Young Naturalist
The next day at sunrise we set out, gently ascending the course of the
stream. Sumichrast's hand was still in pain, and quite prevented him
using his gun. L'Encuerado, though disfigured, had, at least, the free
use of his limbs. The inexperienced traveller is incessantly exposed to
misfortunes of this kind. Turned out into the midst of various unknown
natural objects, he carelessly plucks a leaf, breaks down a branch, or
gathers a flower; and in many cases his punishment is prompt and
terrible, and the innocent diversion of a second has to be expiated by
hours of anguish. In the wild life of the wilderness, dangers become so
multiplied, that more courage than is generally supposed is required to
face them. Every explorer of unknown scenes must make up his mind to
endure hardships. More than one whom I have seen start full of
confidence, at the end of three days have returned, wearied, bruised,
ill, discouraged, and, in fact, conquered. By degrees, of course,
experience comes to the help of those whose moral courage is strong
enough to induce them to persevere. They soon learn to recognize at a
glance the tree that it is best to avoid, the grass that must not be
trodden on, the creeper the touch of which is to be shunned, and the
fruit which should not be tasted. At last the requirements of the body
are to some extent mastered, and it follows the dictation of the soul
without complaint. The long-experienced traveller can scarcely fail to
be astonished at the delicate susceptibility of his casing of flesh,
which is bruised by blows, torn by thorns, devoured by insects, and yet,
day after day, the persevering man continues to face death under its
most horrible aspects--poison from venom of serpents, giddiness from
sun-stroke, blindness from the power of the moon, want of sleep, hunger,
and thirst.
I had just taken a review of our situation when these reflections were
suggested to me. Halting, I permitted my comrades to pass me; their
appearance, after so many days' travel, I give. First, there was
Sumichrast, tall and broad-shouldered, his features displaying both
mildness and energy; one arm in a sling, his clothes torn to shreds, and
his face furrowed by five or six deep scratches; leaning on a stick
carried in his left hand, he seemed a little bent; but his vigorous form
still told of abundant endurance and determination. Behind him, his gun
slung to his cross-belt, came Lucien, slightly stooping, although his
step was firm and determined; his face was seamed with scratches, his
hands bruised and brown from exposure. As he passed in front of me, he
smiled and gave a joyous hurrah, and lifted his cap, beneath which his
hair flowed down in golden curls. Gringalet, now reconciled to the
squirrels' skins, walked close by his master; truly he looked like
standing more work. Lastly, l'Encuerado, his arms and legs bare, and
laden with guavas, brought up the rear. The brave Indian tried to raise
his straw-hat as he passed by me, his bony visage expanded, and his
smile showed a row of white teeth which were worthy of competing with
Gringalet's. Well satisfied with my inspection, I shouldered my gun, and
resumed the head of the column.
The cliffs of the ravine became gradually more wooded, and the descent
was effected without accident. I kept along the bank looking out for a
ford. At last a bend of the stream, where the water flowed calmly and
silently, enabled us to do so without difficulty. I then proposed a
halt. Close by us rose some enormous rocks covered with moss, which, in
flood-time, must have been reached by the water; in front of us was a
gentle slope covered with turf.
We were descending the slope when an object, indistinct at first,
emerged from the edge of the wood, and, appearing to roll more than run
over the grass, advanced toward us. It was an enormous tortoise; but a
tortoise which might successfully have raced with the hare. L'Encuerado
tried to stop it, but fell in his effort. Sumichrast, quite forgetting
his bad hand, dealt the animal a blow with the butt-end of his gun, the
effect of which was slightly to slacken the pace of the enemy. The
Indian, furious at his failure, threw down his load, and came running
up. Our united efforts succeeded, about twenty feet from the stream, in
throwing the animal on its back.
Lucien, rather startled at this scene, and at the size of the tortoise,
then came nearer to examine it. I kept him at some distance from the
reptile, who was viciously agitating its enormous feet, armed with
formidable claws; while its mouth, which was like a horny beak, opened
and shut menacingly.
"It is a _galapago_," said l'Encuerado; "it is of no use for food."
This creature, which is called by the _savants_ the
_alligator-tortoise_, measured more than a yard from its head to its
tail. The latter appendage was almost as long as the body, and was
covered with a triple row of scaly crests fitting into each other. The
gray, wrinkled, and almost scaly skin of the reptile formed rolls round
its neck of a disgusting appearance--one might almost fancy them
unhealthy excrescences. The horrible beast turned towards us its gaping
mouth with a vicious manner. The turtle-fishers much dread the
_galapagos_, which, being more agile than the ordinary tortoise, give
them sometimes frightful wounds, either with their sharp claws or their
horny jaws. Their flesh is declared to be unwholesome.
Just as we were leaving, l'Encuerado wanted to cut off the reptile's
head. Sumichrast opposed this useless slaughter, and was inclined to
replace the tortoise on its feet. But the Indian refused to assist in
this good work, for he asserted that it was equivalent to leaving a
rattlesnake alive. Two or three times the animal was very nearly
repaying our kindness by a bite; for, as soon as we came near, it
managed to twist round on its upper shell. We were about to abandon it
to its fate, when suddenly, the slope of the ground helping us, we
managed to set it on its feet; as soon as it was turned over, it rushed
at Lucien. The enormous rolls round its neck, being all distended, made
it carry its head very forward, so, with a single blow of his cutlass,
l'Encuerado decapitated the assailant. We were then witnesses to a
strange sight, for while Gringalet was furiously attacking the
motionless head, the feet, continuing to move, bore along the body,
which in a moment disappeared in the lake. Although we had often before
seen tortoises survive for a considerable time wounds which were
certainly mortal, the strength of the nervous system which was exhibited
in this reptile almost staggered us.
"Now, my brave friend, try and swim without your head, and take care not
to break your skull against the rocks!" cried the exasperated Indian.
"The father saves your life, and then you want to hurt his child! You
hardly saw me, or you'd have known that I am pretty well able to bite.
Good-bye! and take good care of yourself!"
We may readily see that the Indian was any thing but a generous enemy;
but the fact was, the _galapagos_ were old enemies, for one had nearly
bitten off his hand while he was bathing. The turf-carpeted bank soon
led us into the thick forest again. We had been walking for more than an
hour through a perfect labyrinth of gigantic trees, and over a bare and
yet rich soil--for it is only in the glades that the ground is covered
with grass--when l'Encuerado heard the call of a small species of
pheasant peculiar to this country.
"Bend towards the left to get near the game," said Sumichrast, in a low
voice; "and, whatever you do, don't shake the foliage."
"We're all right now," muttered l'Encuerado; "listen! I'll predict that
we shall have a good dinner to-day."
The Indian laid down his load, which Sumichrast and Lucien took charge
of, while I followed the former behind the trees. My companion soon went
a little in front, and imitated the cry of the bird we were pursuing, so
as to make them answer, and thus show us where they were hidden. The
imitation was really so perfect that I moved towards it, thinking to
find the bird, and of course came upon the Indian lying in ambush. This
same mistake had happened to me before with Sumichrast, who imitated the
voice of birds almost as well as the Indian. At last his cry produced an
answer, and at about a hundred yards from us, on the top of a not very
tall oak, were perched three enormous pheasants.
Bent down and crawling behind the trees, I joined l'Encuerado, keeping
my eye fixed on the game, which stretched out their necks with an
anxious look, and seemed to be listening. Two gun-shots went off at
once; one of the birds fell dead at our feet, and the two others flew
away. One of these fugitives flew high above the tree-tops, but the
other, being wounded, was unable to follow its companion; I darted off
in pursuit, making sure of bagging it. The poor bird reached the ground
and tried hard to run; I was not more than fifty paces from it, when a
tiger-cat, with a black coat, bounded forward, and, seizing it,
disappeared before I had time to recover from my surprise. The marauder
was abused as a thief and a rogue by l'Encuerado, who had been a witness
of this misfortune. Lucien examined the pheasant, which was almost as
big as a turkey; but its sombre plumage did not at all answer to the
magnificent idea which the boy had formed of this bird. He thought that
the head was much too small for the body, and its naked and warty cheeks
led him to observe that the pheasant had the appearance of having put on
two plasters of tortoise-skin, a remark which was certainly well
founded. With regard to the beautiful and many-colored pheasant-species
peculiar to Asia and Africa, Mexico possesses none of them, so far, at
least, as I know.
About two o'clock in the afternoon, Lucien remarked that the trees grew
farther apart, which was a sign that we were approaching an open glade
or the foot of a mountain. Sumichrast made the boy walk in front as
leader--a reward for the sharpness of his eyes. Proud of this duty, our
little guide led us to an opening edged with a rampart of wood at a
short distance off.
"Halt!" cried I.
The butts of the guns were dropped upon the ground at this order; our
hut was soon constructed, and l'Encuerado immediately afterwards busied
himself preparing our meal.
Sumichrast, who, from the state of his hand, was condemned to idleness,
remained with the Indian, while I proceeded, in company with Gringalet
and Lucien, to reconnoitre the vicinity of our bivouac. Almost
immediately, a _yoloxochitl_, a species of magnolia, met our eyes. I
called l'Encuerado, who climbed the tree in order to throw us down some
of its beautiful sweet-smelling flowers; they are externally of a
pinkish-white color, yellow on the inside, and the petals, before
they are full-blown, assume the form of a cross, and afterwards that of
a splendid star. The Indian did not fail to remind us that an infusion
of the glittering leaves of the _yoloxochitl_ is a remedy against
diarrh[oe]a, and that its flowers, as their shape indicates, cure
palpitation of the heart. A little farther on we recognized a
nutmeg-tree, a shrub about ten feet in height, and covered with
half-formed fruit. The nutmeg is not cultivated in Mexico, and the tree
that produces it is rather rare. The Indians, however, use an enormous
quantity of the Molucca nutmegs, either as a remedy or as a
condiment--nutmegs, camphor, and asaf[oe]tida being the principal Indian
remedies. I next pointed out to my young companion a plant named the
_blue herb_, the leaves of which stain the water in which they are
soaked with a lovely azure tinge. In Mexico a variety of this vegetable