Adventures of a Young Naturalist
lowest branches. We could see nothing but the pointed muzzles and black
eyes of the little ones, which seemed as if they were looking down from
the top of a balcony. One of them at last ventured to emerge, and
crawled along the branches; soon the whole litter followed this example.
Sumichrast advised Lucien to clap his hands, and I ordered l'Encuerado
not to fire at the poor animal. Frightened at the noise, the little ones
hastened to their mother, who set up her thin ears and showed us a
double row of white teeth. One of the stupid little things, in its haste
to reach its asylum, fell down from the tree. In a moment the opossum
had jumped down close to it, and turned towards us her threatening jaws;
then, finding all her treasure complete, she disappeared among the
brush-wood.
"Why didn't you let me shoot at the _tlacuache_?" asked l'Encuerado.
"What is the good of killing a poor creature which would be of no use to
us?"
"You know well enough," replied the Indian, "that this 'poor beast'
finds its way into granaries; that it devours the corn and also fowls,
without reckoning the damage made by them in other ways."
"Yes, that's true enough; but this animal, at least, is innocent of all
these misdeeds, for it lives too far from any town."
This scene had quite delighted Lucien. I acquainted him with the fact
that opossums, kangaroos, and several other animals of the kind, the
females of which are provided with a pouch to shelter the young ones,
are, for this reason, called _marsupials_.
The opossum is very common in Mexico. Its long, pointed, and
deeply-divided muzzle is armed with fifty-two formidable teeth, although
the animal feeds principally on eggs, insects, and birds. The young of
those species which are unprovided with the pouch, as soon as they are
able to walk, climb up on their mother's back and intertwine their tails
with hers, which she carries over her back for this purpose. This
instinct is perhaps more curious than that which leads them to dart into
their mother's protecting pouch.
Time was getting on; it now became important for us to reach the spot
where the moles were; and l'Encuerado predicted good sport there without
firing off his gun.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE EARTH-NUTS.--A WILD-CAT'S FEAST.--ANOTHER EXPLORING EXPEDITION TO
THE CAVE.--THE BATS.--EXCAVATIONS IN A TOMB.
While making our way through the brush-wood, in the hopes of putting up
some game of a more appetizing nature than the _opossum_, our feet
became entangled in the fibrous and creeping branches of the earth-nut,
called by the Indians _tlalcacahuatl_. Although the stems were still
covered with white flowers, l'Encuerado dug up the soil in which the
fruit had buried itself in order to complete its ripening, and there
found a quantity. The _tlalcacahuatl_, which is classed by botanists in
the leguminous order, produces yellowish, wrinkled pods, each containing
three or four kernels, which are eaten after being roasted in their
shells; their taste is something like that of a chestnut. It is now
cultivated to some extent in Europe, and the nut produces an oil which
does not readily turn rancid, and is used in Spain in the manufacture of
soap.
Lucien and l'Encuerado were the most pleased at the discovery, for they
were very fond of these earth-nuts, which, on the days of religions
festivals, are sold by heaps in front of the Mexican churches.
"It is the day but one after Ascension-day," cried the Indian; "we
certainly can not hear Mass, but, at all events, we can try to please
God by eating pea-nuts in His honor."
The sun was beginning to sink, and hunger dictated to us that we should
hasten our steps. I therefore led my companions towards the bivouac. We
had but just started again, when five or six hares came giddily running
almost between our legs. Lucien was skillful enough to shoot one, and
Sumichrast knocked down another. L'Encuerado loaded with the game, we
proceeded to our hut.
Being now reassured as to our bill-of-fare for dinner by this unexpected
windfall, I kept on walking towards the entrance of a glade, the soil of
which, being quite burrowed, betrayed the presence of the moles. Each of
us lay down under the shade of a tree. Chance led me under a robinia or
iron-wood tree, the trunk of which will defy the best-tempered axe. In
front of me stood a _tepehuage_, a kind of mahogany-tree, with
dark-colored foliage, which will become, some day, the object of
considerable trade between Europe and Mexico; the beauty of this red
wood, veined with black, renders it highly fitted for the manufacture of
furniture.
Gringalet had followed the Indian. I advised Lucien to keep silence, so
as to observe the operations of the moles, who would be certain to come
out of their burrows as soon as the sun set. In fact, first one, then
two, and at last twenty made their appearance; and in less than a
quarter of an hour I counted more than a hundred engaged in throwing up
the ground, playing about, and fighting, all the time uttering shrill
cries. Lucien was much amused as he watched them squatting down on their
hinder parts, making grimaces, and gnawing the roots and bark.
A single gunshot would have enabled us to double our store of grease,
but it would have been a waste of our powder and shot. In fear of
yielding to the temptation, I was thinking of giving the signal for
departure, when it became evident that the animals whose games were
enlivening us were actuated by a sudden panic. All the moles, which
were solemnly seated, nodded to and fro their enormous heads, showing
their long yellow incisors, and seemed to sniff the air. Suddenly they
all rushed towards their burrows. A _jaquarete_ had scattered them by
springing in among them. The new-comer, a species of wild-cat, with a
coat of the darkest black, left two or three victims dead upon the
ground, and then set up a plaintive mewing.
This call soon attracted two young ones, which darted at once on the
first mole they came to. Each of them seized hold of one side of their
prey, spitting just like cats, and trying to tear it with their
formidable claws. The mother was obliged to put a stop to the quarrel by
an energetic display of authority, allotting a separate victim to each
of her ferocious offspring; then she lay down and yawned several times,
while the young ones were tearing to pieces the bodies of their prey.
When they had eaten all they required, the mother gluttonously devoured
all that was left, without ceasing to watch a third mole, round which
the two young carnivora were prowling. Whenever they came near her prey,
she gave a growl; and they seemed to know the meaning of this maternal
injunction, for they crouched down to the ground, and drew back,
lowering their heads, as if from fear. As soon as her repast was
finished, the _jaquarete_ caught up in her mouth the untouched mole, and
made off without noticing us.
"What do you think of these little ogres?" asked Sumichrast, addressing
Lucien.
"How very pretty they are, with their black shiny coats! They are just
like big cats."
"That's very likely, for cats are their first cousins."
"Do _jaquaretes_ ever attack men?"
"No; but, still, if we had tried to touch her young ones, the mother
would perhaps have flown at us."
"To eat us?" asked Lucien, opening his eyes very widely.
"She would bite and tear us with her claws, or otherwise injure us. But
seriously, as a general rule, wild beasts, or _carnivora_, as the
_savants_ call them, are always formidable, and, whatever may be their
size, it is unsafe to provoke them. If one of us, unarmed, had to fight
hand to hand with a wild-cat, it is probable that he would receive more
injury from the contest than the animal."
Night was now falling fast; but, fortunately, our fire guided us to our
resting-place. When we were yet some distance off, we were amused at
seeing the Indian prowling round, or gravely sitting down face to face
with the dog, with whom, no doubt, he was chatting. Suddenly the dog
jumped up, pricking up his ears, and ran out to meet us, while
l'Encuerado raised over his head a burning branch to throw a light upon
our path.
At day-break we were awakened by the voice of the Indian. The gloomy
appearance of the weather threatened us with one of those fine rains
which appear to last forever. Sumichrast went off to cut some long
switches covered with leaves, one of which light boughs he handed to
each of us before he would allow us to enter the cave.
"What are these switches for?" asked Lucien, in surprise.
"M. Sumichrast wants to catch some bats, Chanito."
"Does he intend to eat them?"
"Oh no; though I have no doubt they would be very good."
"Their flesh is delicious," interposed Sumichrast; "the wing especially
is a tidbit which I can highly recommend."
But my friend could not keep a serious face when he saw Lucien's
frightened look; so his joke partly failed in its effect.
L'Encuerado entered the cave on tiptoe. The rest of us, taking up a
position at the entrance, made every preparation to enrich our
collections. Two bats soon fell, beaten down by our switches. Lucien
examined them without much repugnance, but the shape of their muzzles
surprised him even more than their wings. One of those which he examined
had lips cloven in the middle and doubled back; the other had a flat
nose and still more hideous visage, and possessed, instead of ears, two
enormous holes, at the bottom of which were situate its black and
brilliant eyes. Added to this, the membrane of its wings was so thin and
transparent that it seemed as if it must tear with the slightest
exertion. The poor little animal gradually recovered itself, and showed
its delicate and sharp teeth. Sumichrast took it up, and hung it by the
claw at the end of its forearm, in order to show Lucien the way in which
these creatures cling to the rough places which form their usual
resting-place; but it suddenly let go its hold, and disappeared in the
dark cave open in front of us.
The bat, apparently an imperfectly-formed creature, was for a long time
a puzzle to naturalists. Fontaine makes it say:
"I am a bird; look at my wings!
I am a mouse; the mice forever!"
_Savants_, also, used to describe it as a bird provided with hair
instead of feathers, and with teeth instead of a bill. Geoffroy
Saint-Hilaire was the first to teach that the wings of the bat are
nothing but the fingers of the animal joined together by a thin
membrane. I had thus another opportunity of proving to Lucien the wisdom
of our Creator, and the simplicity of the means He employs in producing
the infinite variety of beings which people the universe.
"This is the first time," cried l'Encuerado, indignantly, "that I have
heard the devil made use of as a means of bestowing praise upon Almighty
God."
"Bats have no connection with your devil," said Sumichrast; "they are
nothing but animals, rather more curiously constructed than others."
"Oh! M. Sumichrast, then you can never have examined their wings? The
Satan that St. Michael is treading under his feet in the beautiful
picture in the convent at Orizava has wings just like the bats. And as
to these caverns, every one knows that they are the residences of bad
spirits."
"Let us make our way at once into it, then," said Lucien, who in no way
shared his friend's superstition.
As on the day before, we descended to its bottom, and, skirting the
left-hand wall, entered a wide chamber, in which water fell in a
continual shower. We were inconvenienced by the icy drops which ran down
our clothes, and I therefore advised Sumichrast to turn back; but
instead of doing so, he pushed on into a winding passage. Before long