Adventures of a Young Naturalist
"What did the cross matter to him?"
"Matter to him! why, Chanito, he knows well that we are Christians, and
yet he bewitches us. Wait a bit, I'll match him."
And rearing himself up against the trunk of a tree, standing on his
head, with his legs in the air, l'Encuerado kicked about with all the
frenzy of one possessed. He fell sometimes to the right, and sometimes
to the left, but raised himself after every fall, and resumed his
clown-like attitude. Not one of us could keep a serious countenance
while looking at his contortions. Lucien laughed till he cried,
especially because the Indian, as if on purpose to render the scene more
comical, accompanied his gestures with invectives against the genius of
the cave and invocations to St. Joseph.
At last I told him to resume his natural position, and to keep quiet.
"Do you really think that I have done it enough?" he asked, addressing
me with imperturbable gravity.
"Yes," I replied; "from the way in which you have shaken him, I should
say he must have come out either through your mouth or ears."
"Then it's your turn now, Chanito!"
Lucien, delighted at having to execute this feat of skill, tried several
times to keep his balance while standing on his head; but overcome by
laughter, he was not able, so he fell, to rear himself up again. The
more l'Encuerado cried out to him, urging him to persevere, the louder
the boy laughed. The brave Indian, who was under the full belief that
an evil spirit must necessarily abandon a body placed upside down,
seized the legs of his young master and shook him violently as if he was
emptying a sack. Sumichrast at last put an end to this scene by
declaring that he was sure the spirit must have taken flight.
L'Encuerado then came up to my friend and proposed to assist him into
the same position as he had helped Lucien.
"That's enough of it," I cried as soon as laughing allowed me to speak;
"M. Sumichrast and I have other means of expelling evil spirits."
L'Encuerado looked at me with wonder, more convinced than ever that my
power far exceeded that of the sorcerers of his own country.
We were now close to our fire. Lucien was gravely repeating the words
which l'Encuerado had addressed to the demon, when Gringalet commenced
howling. L'Encuerado had seized the poor animal by his hind legs, and
was violently shaking him, head downward.
"It's all for your good," said the Indian to the dog. "Can't you
understand that the evil spirit which you have in your body will be
certain to make you commit some folly?"
Lucien rushed to the assistance of his faithful friend, and at last
induced the Mistec to let him go. Not the least convinced of
l'Encuerado's kind intentions towards him, Gringalet seemed to bear
malice towards the Indian, and for three days was very shy of coming
near him.
After this scene the preparations for dinner occupied our attention. If
our guns had been more successful, we should have had fat to fry our
fish in. While we were deploring our ill-luck, I noticed a flock of
birds like ducks flying high up in the air; they made a wide circle and
settled down on the top of a tree. L'Encuerado fired at them, and one
fell. It was an _anhinga_, one of the most singular specimens of
web-footed birds that can be found anywhere. Represent to yourself an
enormous duck with a neck like a swan, a bill straight, tapering, and
longer than the head, webbed feet, and widely spreading and
well-feathered wings, and then know the _anhinga_. It dives and flies
with equal facility, can swim under the water and perch upon trees, the
highest of which it chooses for building its nest upon.
The flesh of the anhinga is not valuable, as it is hard and tough.
Perhaps a good appetite rendered me indulgent, but I found the flavor
very much like that of duck. The fat of this bird, carefully saved, was
used for frying our fish. The latter, I must confess, did not seem to us
so nice as the dark-colored meat of the anhinga. If it tasted rather
fishy, the fish themselves tasted muddy; on the whole, however, our
bill-of-fare was a tolerable one.
When night-fall came on, the trees stood out in bold relief against the
transparent sky, and l'Encuerado, delighted at thinking that he was now
unbewitched, gratified us with one of his unpublished canticles, which
materially helped to send us to sleep.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE BLACK IGUANA.--ANOTHER COUNTRY.--REMINISCENCES OF CHILDHOOD.--THE
MIRAGE.--A FIRE IN THE PLAIN.
By ten o'clock in the morning we had crossed some rising ground, and
were passing through a narrow gorge carpeted with ferns. Lucien headed
the party, closely followed by l'Encuerado; and led us on to a kind of
rocky staircase, down which, in the rainy season, water doubtlessly
flowed. This steep path compelled us to halt several times to recover
our breath. The branches of the bushes formed an archway over our heads,
and their blossoms surrounded us with their rich perfume.
At length a rise in the ground impeded our path, and the heat commenced
to inconvenience us. The refraction of light, especially, affected our
eyes, and our feet raised perfect clouds of dust. Lucien, who had become
quite an enduring walker, throughout kept in front, and often gained
ground while we were stopping to take breath. Just as we reached the
ridge of the hill, I saw the boy, who was a few yards in advance,
suddenly cock his gun and fire. I ran to him, but he disappeared down
the slope, crying out to me that he had shot a dragon!
I soon came up, and found the young sportsman standing in front of a
magnificent black iguana--_Cyclura acanthura_--which does, in fact,
somewhat resemble the supposed appearance of the fabulous animal
described by the ancients. Its skin shone with a silvery-gray metallic
glitter, more particularly on the dorsal ridge. L'Encuerado joined us
when it was dying, when, rubbing his hands, he cried:
"It is a _guachi-cheve_; what a splendid supper we shall have!"
"You have seen them before, then?"
"It is an animal which belongs to my country, Chanito; it abounds in the
plains which slope down to the Pacific Ocean. They are beasts which can
live without eating; they are sometimes kept for two months with their
feet tied and their mouth sewn up."
"The mouth sewn up?"
"Yes, Chanito, so as to prevent them getting lean. When I was your age,
during the time of Lent, I used to go iguana hunting with my brothers.
We sought them in the shallow marshes which are inundated by water
during flood-time. There, in hollow trunks of trees, or in holes made in
the mud, we found the black iguanas, and pulled them out by their
tails."
"Then they don't bite?"
"Oh yes, they do, and scratch also; so we took care to catch hold of
them by the neck, and tie both their feet and their jaws. Sometimes we
used to pursue them up the trees; but then, for they don't mind falling
twenty or thirty feet, they frequently escaped."
Sumichrast completed this information by telling the young naturalist
that the iguana, which is allied to the lizards, is generally a yard in
length; and that the female lays thirty to forty eggs, which are much
esteemed by the native epicures; also that the green species--_Iguana
rhinolopha_--has a flat, thin tail, and swims much better than the black
variety, the tail of which, being covered with spines, is not well
adapted for progression through water. Thus, meeting with a green iguana
almost always indicates the vicinity of a stream; but the black
species is frequently found away from rivers.
Lucien wanted at first to carry his game, but he was overtaxed by its
weight and gave it up to l'Encuerado. Another hill was now before us,
and the ground became at every step more and more barren, and on which
there was little or nothing growing but a few shrubs with a bluish
flower. When we had reached the summit of this second ridge, a boundless
plain lay spread out before our gaze; we were now on the central plateau
of Mexico, in the _Terre-Froide_, eight thousand seven hundred feet
above the level of the sea.
What a change there was! The white soil was so light and dry that it was
carried away by the breeze, and produced nothing but a few leafless
trees. There were also some thorny bushes smothered in sand, and, a
little farther on, some gigantic _cacti_ astonished us with their
strange shapes. The sun, reflected by the red glaring surface, much
interfered with our sight, so we directed our steps to the right, where
there appeared to be a greater amount of shade.
"Oh, what a wretched country!" cried Lucien. "Can we be still in
Mexico?"
"Yes," replied I; "but we are now on the great plateau, almost on a
level with the city of Mexico and Puebla."
"Are we going to cross that great plain? I can see neither birds nor
beasts on it; in fact, one might almost fancy the very trees were
thirsty."
"You are right, for it does not often rain here. Nevertheless, this
ground, which at first sight appears so barren, is very fruitful when
cultivated. It produces wheat, barley, potatoes, apples, pears,
cherries, grapes, peaches, and, in short, all the European fruits, which
can only grow in a temperate zone. On this plateau, too, grows the
_Maguey agave_, _Mexicana_, a wonderful plant, which is as useful to
the Mexicans as the cocoa-nut tree is to the inhabitants of the lands to
which it is indigenous."
L'Encuerado had stooped down under a pepper-tree, and his glance
wandered over the scene. The fact was, that we were now about the same
height as that at which his own country is situated, and he might easily
fancy himself near his native village.
"What are you thinking of?" said I, tapping him on the shoulder.
"Oh Tatita! why did you disturb me? Here I feel myself almost as learned
as you, and I could tell you all the names of those flowers which turn
their bright faces towards me as if they knew me! It seems as if I had
often walked on that plain, and as if I had often seen these trees,
bushes, and plants-- You are laughing at me, Chanito; it's all very
well, but you'll see! Tatita will set me right if I tell you any thing
that is not true. Look here, for instance," continued the Indian, rising
up and plucking a plant with slender and whitish stems; "this is the
_alfilerillo_, which mothers give their children to cure them of sore
throats. Such shrubs are lost here; for their fruit would be useful in
my country. Here too, Chanito, is a _mizquitl_, a thorny tree on which
we shall be certain to find some gum. Indeed, here are three morsels of
it. You may safely suck it; it will not seem very nice at first, but you
will soon like it. Oh Tatita! you have really brought me back into my
own country."
"We are certainly on the same line, and it is not to be wondered at that
you find here the same kind of vegetation as in that in which you spent
your childhood."
The Indian was silent, and seemed musing. Sumichrast and I observed him
with some curiosity, and Lucien, surprised at his emotion, looked at him
anxiously.
"Here is the 'angel-plant,'" resumed l'Encuerado, suddenly. "How pleased
my mother used to be when I found one of them."
"What are its good properties?" I asked.
"Oh! it produces beautiful dreams, which seem to lift you to heaven."
The Indian again became pensive, sometimes casting a glance over the
vast prospect, and sometimes pulling up pieces of the turf which grew at
his feet.
"It only needs a palm-tree to make the landscape quite complete," said
he, thoughtfully.
In a minute or so he advanced towards the bushes, and, kneeling down,
plucked a tuft of yellow marigold, which are called in this country "the