Adventures of a Young Naturalist
The Indian took off his straw hat, scratched his forehead, and then,
placing two fingers in his mouth, whistled a prolonged note. Almost
immediately the foliage was pushed aside, and a boy about fifteen years
old, wearing nothing but a pair of drawers, made his appearance, and
halted, as if terrified at the sight of us.
"Run to the hut, and ask for cakes and some capsicums, and bring them
here," said the wood-cutter, in the Aztec language.
"It's quite needless," I replied, in the same idiom; "we can breakfast
much more comfortably in the hut."
The wood-cutter looked at me in artless admiration, then taking my hand,
placed it on his breast. I spoke his language, and I was therefore his
friend. This is a feeling common to all men, whatever may be their
nationality or social position.
Following the young Indian, in five minutes we reached a very primitive
dwelling; being but four stakes supporting a roof made of branches with
their leaves on. The wood-men in Mexico construct such temporary places
of shelter, for at the commencement of the rainy season they cease to
dwell in the forests.
An Indian girl warmed us a dozen of those maize-flour fritters, which
are called _tortillas_, and are eaten by the natives instead of bread.
She also brought us a calabash full of cooked beans, which hunger
rendered delicious.
"Why don't they serve the meat first?" asked Lucien.
"Because they have none," replied Sumichrast.
"Haven't these Indians any meat? Poor fellows! How will they dine,
then?"
"Don't you know that the Indians never eat meat more than three or four
times a year; and that their usual food is composed of nothing but black
beans, rice, capsicums, and maize flour? Have you forgotten our dinner
yesterday?"
"I fancied that we had arrived too late for the first course, and that
all the meat had been used. But shall we live on beans the whole of our
journey?"
"No; our meals will not be quite so regular as you seem to think. Yet we
shall have plenty of meat when we have been lucky in shooting, a little
rice when we have been unfortunate, and fried beans whenever chance
throws in our way any inhabited hut."
"And we shall have to go without dessert?" said the child, making up his
face into a comical pout.
"Oh no, Chanito, there will be dessert to-day," replied l'Encuerado.
"Perhaps as good as the cook would provide at home; but, at any rate, it
is sweet enough. Look at it!"
The Indian girl brought a calabash full of water, and a cone of black
sugar, weighing about half a pound.
"What is that?" cried Lucien.
"_Panela_," answered the Indian girl.
"Poor man's sugar," interposed Sumichrast. "The manufacture of white
sugar, which you saw yesterday, costs a good deal, for the laborers
employed to make it have to work night and day, and thus it becomes
expensive. Now, some sugar-makers avoid all this outlay, and they merely
boil the juice, so that it will harden in cooling. This dark-colored
sugar costs about one-half as much in making as the other."
"I can well believe it," said the child; "but it contains all that nasty
scum which we saw."
"That makes it the nicer," said l'Encuerado; "it has a richer flavor."
And taking a morsel of the _panela_, he soaked it in the water in the
calabash and sucked it.
When Lucien saw that we, too, imitated the Indian, he soon made up his
mind to do likewise, the sweet taste overcoming his repugnance.
When we had finished, our young companion was anxious to know how
charcoal was made. Sumichrast led him close to a recently-felled oak,
the small branches of which an Indian was cutting into pieces two or
three inches long, by means of an instrument something like an enormous
pruning-knife. A little farther, on the open ground, two men were
collecting these pieces of wood in circular rows. This pile was already
seven feet in circumference, and about the same in height, although it
was not half finished. Lucien could easily see this when he approached
the Indian who was looking after the lighted furnace, in which the wood,
completely covered with earth, formed a kind of dome, from the summit of
which a blue flame was hovering, proving that the mass inside was in a
red-hot state. The Indian kept walking round and round the furnace,
plastering damp earth on any holes through which the flame started. For,
as Sumichrast properly observed, a charcoal of good quality must be
smothered while it is being burned.
"Suppose the fire went out?" said Lucien.
"Then all the work must be begun over again."
"But the fire might burn only one side."
"They would then have badly-burned charcoal, nearly half wood, which
would cause a bad smell when it was used. The wood in the oven we are
looking at will be entirely charred to-night; for the fire, which was
lighted at the centre, is trying to break through all round the outside.
Before long the Indians will cover up the opening at the top, over which
the blue flame is hovering. The fire will then be quite deprived of air,
and soon afterwards go out. In about eight days your mamma may perhaps
buy this very charcoal which you have seen burned."
"Suppose the charcoal went on burning?"
"Then the Indian, to his great vexation, would find nothing left but
ashes. But he will take good care not to lose the fruit of his labor. He
will use as many precautions to prevent the fire burning up again as he
does now to hinder it going out."
A little farther on a man was filling up his rush bags with charcoal
which had cooled. As it would take him more than one day to reach the
town, he was lining his sacks with a kind of balm, the penetrating odor
of which always announces, in Mexico, the approach of a
charcoal-carrier. This plan is adopted to preserve the charcoal from
damp.
"When I used to see the Indians carrying on their backs their four
little sacks of charcoal," said Lucien, "I had no idea that they were
obliged to live in the woods, and cut down great trees to procure it;
and that they had to pass several nights in watching the oven."
"No more idea, perhaps," I replied, "than the little boys in Europe have
of the sugar-cane plantations; and that without the plant all those
beautiful _bon-bons_, which delight the sight as much as the taste,
could not be made."
"But, papa, haven't I heard you tell the Mexicans that in France they
make sugar with beet-root?"
"Yes, certainly you have; and, in case of need, it might be extracted
from many other roots, plants, or fruit; but beet-root alone yields
enough sugar to repay the trouble of extraction."
It was quite time for us to be off; so I put an end to the ceaseless
questions of the young traveller.
Our host told me that if we went on along the same path which had led us
to their place, we should come, in less than two hours, to a hut
situated on the plateau of the mountain. The Indians certainly seemed to
forget that Lucien's short legs might delay our progress.
CHAPTER IV.
A DIFFICULT ASCENT.--THE GOAT.--THE INDIAN GIRLS.--THE
TOBACCO-PLANT.--THE BULL-FIGHT.--GAME.--LUCIEN'S GUN.--OUR ENTRY INTO
THE WILDERNESS.
Our way led through nothing but scrub oaks, for all the larger trees had
gradually disappeared from the mountain-side, which had for some time
been cultivated by the Indians. The path was steep, rugged, and stony;
and seemed, at first, to defy any attempt to scale it. Notwithstanding
the measured pace at which we were walking, we were obliged to stop
every minute to recover our breath. Lucien followed us so eagerly that I
was obliged to check him several times. He was surprised at not seeing
any living creature, not even those beautiful golden flies which, in
Mexico, flutter round every bush. But the north wind was blowing, and
the sun was hidden behind the clouds, so that both the insects and birds
kept in the deepest recesses of their hiding-places. As we advanced, our
road became much steeper, and we were obliged to cling to the shrubs for
support. L'Encuerado, who was impeded by the weight of his load, pulled
himself up with his hands, so had hard work to keep his balance. Soon it
became impossible for him to go farther; but, fortunately, we had
foreseen ascents of this kind. So I gave the child into Sumichrast's
charge, for if he had been left to climb by himself, he would most
likely have rolled over and hurt himself against the stumps or sharp
rocks.
I made my way into a copse, and with my _machete_ I cut down a
moderately-sized branch, the end of which I sharpened to a point. Then,
going forward and unrolling a leathern thong, thirty feet in length, and
commonly called by us a _lasso_, I fastened it to the stake, which I
drove firmly into the ground. By means of this support, which served as
a sort of hand-rail, l'Encuerado could clamber up to me, thanks to the
strength of his wrists. Ten times this awkward job had to be repeated,
and the path, instead of getting better, became worse. We then shifted
our work, and I took charge of the load, while the tired Indian fixed
the _lasso_. I was just making my third ascent, when Sumichrast, who had
gone on before us to reconnoitre the ground, made his appearance above.
When he saw me stumbling and twisting about, falling now on my side, and
now on my knees, toiling to advance a single step, my companion burst
into a fit of laughter. I had then neither time nor will to do as he
did, and his ill-timed mirth vexed me. At last I caught hold of the
stake, bruised and exhausted, and ready to wish there was no such thing
as travelling. Sumichrast told us that we had scarcely three hundred
feet more to ascend, and shouldered the basket himself. Now that I was
a mere spectator, I could readily forgive him his fit of merriment.
Nothing, in fact, could be more grotesque than the contortions he went
through trying to keep his balance. L'Encuerado was the only one who
retained his countenance. As for Lucien, he seemed to feel the efforts
of Sumichrast as much as if they were his own.
"You see," I said to my son, "that in countries where there are no
beaten roads a walk is not always an easy matter."
At last, we got out of this difficult locality. While all this was going
on, Gringalet, gravely squatting down upon his haunches, seemed
perfectly amazed at our efforts. Pricking up his ears and winking his
eyes, he quietly surveyed us; no doubt secretly congratulating himself
upon being able to run and gambol easily in places where we,
less-suitably-constructed bipeds, found it difficult even to walk.
Here there were no trees to be seen. As on the evening before, we
traversed a granite surface soil which formed the ridge of the mountain;
but a sudden turn in the path led us to a plateau, on which stood a
rudely-built hut.
Three children ran away as we came near, and two lean dogs began to
prowl round Gringalet with any thing but friendly intentions. A goat,
which was quietly cropping the scanty grass, suddenly raised its head,
and, cutting several capers, ran with its head bent down, as if to butt
our little companion. I could not reach the spot in time to prevent this
unforeseen attack, nevertheless I shouted, in hopes of intimidating the
animal; but Gringalet, who was far more nimble than I, boldly faced the
enemy, and soon forced him to retreat.
"Weren't you afraid of him?" asked Sumichrast.
"Rather," answered Lucien, hanging down his head.
"Well, it did not prevent you facing the foe."
"If I had run away, the goat, who runs a great deal faster than I can,
would soon have overtaken me. I waited for him, so as to frighten him
with my stick, and, if possible, avoid his horns."
"You could not have acted more sensibly. At all events you've plenty of
coolness, and that is about the best quality a traveller can show."