THE METEOR.--GOD ALMIGHTY'S LANTERNS.--THE SKUNK.--THE JALAP-PLANT.--AN
AERIAL JOURNEY.--THE ORCHIDS.--BIVOUAC IN THE MOUTH OF A
CAVE.--GRINGALET AND THE BEETLES.--A WHITE ANTS' NEST.
The sun left us soon afterwards, and we sat talking by the fire. At last
l'Encuerado took away Lucien towards the rocks, and set up one of those
interminable chants with which his memory was stored. Our fire lighted
up with its red gleam the stone on which they were sitting, making it
look like an immense pedestal, surmounted by two bronze statues. Any
traveller suddenly entering the valley would have recoiled in terror
before this fantastic apparition; and if any wild beast had been
prowling near us, our gigantic shadows would certainly have made it keep
its distance.
We were just thinking of calling Lucien to come and lie down under the
hut, when l'Encuerado shouted out to us. Towards the east, a large
luminous disk was shining brilliantly above the mountain peaks. This
luminous globe, lengthening out into the shape of an ellipse, appeared
to move along.
In fact, it was descending slowly over the wooded crests. Lucien and
l'Encuerado kept plying us with questions in reference to it, which we
were unable to answer.
[Illustration]
"What is it?" cried Sumichrast.
"A meteor!" I exclaimed, struck with a sudden idea.
"If I had my gun ready, I would fire at it, at all events."
"You had better not," said I; "the globe may contain electric fluid, and
we might draw it down upon us."
Soon afterwards the meteor passed by us. We threw ourselves down flat on
the earth, dreading this unknown visitor. When I ventured to rise, it
was some distance away, and yet appeared to be motionless. Rays
incessantly quivering sprang from the centre of it; in the middle the
light was white, but at the edges it assumed first a yellowish, then a
red, and lastly a bluish hue. We were suddenly almost blinded by a flash
of intense brilliancy; a formidable explosion, repeated by the echoes,
burst upon our ears, and all became silence and obscurity.
While we were returning to our bivouac, Lucien and l'Encuerado pressed
us with questions.
"What are meteors?" asked Lucien, eagerly.
"Some scientific men," replied Sumichrast, "look upon them as fragments
of planets wandering in space. Getting entangled in our planetary
system, they yield to the attraction of our globe, and fall on to its
surface in obedience to the law of gravitation."
"But what are they composed of?"
"Generally speaking, of sulphur, chromium, and earth. The phenomenon of
'shooting stars' is connected with that of meteors, and any substance
falling on the surface of the earth receives the name of _aerolite_."
"Do you wish to persuade me that stones rain down from the sky?" cried
l'Encuerado.
"Yes, certainly; and if I am not mistaken, it was in your country that
the largest known aerolite was found, for it weighed no less than fifty
hundred-weights. To-morrow morning we will search for the one we have
seen, which must have dropped at the end of the valley."
"Are these stones luminous?" rejoined the Indian.
"No; but they take fire, owing to their rapid flight."
"And whence did the meteor come which passed so close to us?"
"Either from the moon or the stars, or perhaps from the sun."
L'Encuerado half-closed his eyes, and burst out laughing at what he
considered a joke. He laughed, indeed, so heartily, that we could not
help joining him.
"Now what do you imagine the sun and moon really are?" asked Lucien.
"God's lanterns," replied the Indian, gravely.
Our young companion was well accustomed to the artless ignorance of his
friend, but still he always endeavored to contend against it; so he set
to work to teach him something about our planetary system. The
dimensions which he attributed to the heavenly bodies seemed to afford
great amusement to the Indian. At last, just when the young orator
fancied he had convinced his disciple, the latter embraced him,
exclaiming:
"What an amusing tale! Oh! how pleased I should be to be able to read
such pretty stories as that in a book!"
"Tales, indeed!" cried Lucien, quite indignant.
"Well, the very idea of saying that the earth is a ball, which moves
round and round, and that there are stars which are bigger! Many a night
have I spent looking at the stars, and I know they are nothing but
lanterns, and that's enough!"
"But if you have observed them so carefully," interposed Sumichrast,
"you must have observed that they are constantly shifting their places."
"Yes, but that is because the angels don't always light up the same
stars, and God has plenty of them in every direction--"
I now interrupted the conversation.
"Come, let us all go to rest!" I cried, cutting short a discussion which
I knew, by experience, must end in Lucien and Sumichrast getting the
worst of it.
The next morning there was nothing better to do than to go with my
companions to look after the aerolite. The ball of fire appeared to have
passed just over us, and I fancied that we should be certain to recover
some part of it. After an hour of useless wandering, we were compelled
to admit that our eyes must have been much mistaken as to distances.
L'Encuerado could not help smiling incredulously on hearing the
conjectures which I and Sumichrast made; but he was generous enough not
to take advantage of the superior astronomical knowledge which he
assumed he possessed.
On setting out I again crossed the valley, and then climbing the
mountain, I led my companions up to a plateau.
As far as was possible I followed the route I thought the meteor had
taken. L'Encuerado was just making his way into the forest when
Sumichrast noticed a broken tree, a little to the right. I leaped up on
the slope, and soon remarked that the ground, for a space of at least
twenty yards, was strewn with black or green stones, which had been in a
fused state, and evidently bore the appearance of iron _scoriae_. There
could be no doubt about it; the tree which had been struck had caused
the explosion of the meteor, and had broken under the shock.
"These, therefore, are the remains of some of your sky-lanterns," said
Lucien to l'Encuerado, who had just picked up some large stones, shining
like metal.
The Indian shook his head without answering. The fallen tree, the burned
and blackened trunk, the withered and even scorched grass, these
strange-looking stones--every thing visibly combined to upset his
theory. Each of us added to his load one of the aerolites; then, again
returning to the plateau, we plunged into the forest.
One shot that Sumichrast made rendered him happy for the whole day. He
had knocked down a green-colored crossbill, of a species still unknown
in Europe.
"What a queer bird!" cried Lucien. "How did it manage to eat with its
mouth all awry?"
"Its mouth," replied Sumichrast, smiling, "is well adapted to its food.
This bird--which we have here met with quite by chance, as it usually
frequents mountain-tops--feeds on roots, buds, and pine-cones. Owing to
its two mandibles being so strongly made and so curiously arranged it
can cut through, as if with a pair of scissors, branches which a bird
with a pointed beak could never penetrate."
"God is mindful of all His creatures," muttered l'Encuerado, who was
helping to skin the bird. "I had always fancied that these poor
creatures were deformed."
Towards midday the chances of our path brought us to the bottom of a
narrow valley in the midst of a clump of shrubs; this seemed a fit spot
for our bivouac. In the twinkling of an eye, the ground was cleared of
brush-wood and our hut constructed. We had scarcely sat down to take
breath when a slight rustling in the foliage attracted our attention,
and an animal with a bushy tail sprang down from a tree. Gringalet
darted at it, but an abominable smell, which almost suffocated us, at
once made him retreat. A skunk, which in shape and color somewhat
resembles a squirrel, had thus perfectly poisoned our bivouac.
[Illustration: "Above us, the trees crossed their branches."]
Nothing was left for us but to decamp as quickly as possible, for the
stench rendered the place uninhabitable for several days. L'Encuerado
could not find enough bad names for abusing the animal, which, however,
had only availed itself of the means of defense with which nature has
endowed it. Each of us now resumed his burden, sadly enough, I must
confess, and not without throwing a disappointed glance at our hut.
Sumichrast led the way, and did not stop till we found ourselves
perfectly exhausted at the entrance to a deep and narrow gorge. We still
felt sickened by the horrible stench produced by the skunk, and, as we
did not wish to expose ourselves again to a similar misfortune, we
took care, before constructing a fresh hut, to search round the shrubs
and bushes. A few birds shot on the road rendered it unnecessary for us
to hunt any more, as we had an abundance of food, so we all set to work
to repair our wardrobes. Our shoes first required our attention, and
Sumichrast constituted himself head-cobbler. L'Encuerado's sandals gave
him a great advantage over us; for all he required was a sole and a
leathern strap, and then he was well shod. But, unfortunately, the
delicacy of our skin several times afforded Sumichrast cause for regret
that he had not been born an Indian.
L'Encuerado, full of ingenuity, managed to fix some pieces of fox-skin
on some old soles, and made for Lucien a pair of buskins as strong as
they were inelegant. He promised to make us some like them, and
Sumichrast, who succeeded only tolerably well in his cobbling, nominated
the Indian "sandal-maker in ordinary and extraordinary to our
majesties."
The next morning at daybreak we entered a narrow gorge in which it was
impossible for us to walk abreast. The whole morning was spent in
travelling along between two stone ramparts, hung with mosses, ferns,
and orchids. The moist soil rendered the temperature round us
sufficiently cool and agreeable; but the pass was so filled up with the
trunks of fallen trees as to render our progress very laborious.
The gorge extended to such a length that I began to be anxious about it,
and to fear lest we had entered into a _cul-de-sac_. The perpendicular
walls rendered any deviation in our path impossible; above us, the trees
crossed their branches and almost hid the sky. No bird enlivened the
solitude with its song, and ferns were so abundant that it seemed as if
we had lighted upon some corner of the primitive world; as if to render
the resemblance more complete, the reptiles scarcely fled at our
approach, and obliged us to use the greatest care.
Cutlass in hand, Lucien climbed nimbly over the fallen trees which
barred our progress. Ere long our feet sank into a quantity of liquid
mud, and I discovered a slender streamlet of limpid water oozing out
between two rocks. The pass between the rocks became narrower and
narrower, and if a wild beast had then met us we should have had to
dispute the path with it. As a rencontre of this kind was by no means
impossible, Lucien, to his displeasure, was ordered to follow in rear.
The way now widened a little, and became more clear of impediments, and
our little column advanced with rather more rapidity. We walked along
silently between these stern and imposing granite walls, with the
constant hope of seeing them separate and open out into a valley. Every
few yards some fresh turn frustrated our expectations; and if ever any
pass deserved the name of the "Devil's Gorge," it was the interminable
fissure through which we had been compelled to walk for so long a
distance. At various heights there were half-suspended rocks which
threatened to fall upon us; for several previously had fallen and now
blocked up the path. At last a sudden turn revealed a wide opening; but
our joy was of short duration; nothing but a perpendicular precipice lay
in front of us.
We looked at one another in consternation; we were prisoners! On our
right and left were perpendicular walls more than a hundred feet high,
and impossible to climb; before us there was a gulf with a vertical
precipice. What was to be done? Sumichrast lighted the pipe of council,
while l'Encuerado clung on to the rocks and tried to measure the abyss
with his eye.
We were seated near a plant with slender branches and heart-shaped
leaves tinged with red, concealing here and there a flower of a violet
blue. I recognized in it the shrub which produces jalap, and is called
by the Indians _tolonpatl_. I called Lucien's attention to it, who soon
dug up four or five tap-roots of a pear-like shape. Jalap, which has
taken its name from the town of Jalapa, whence it was once forwarded to
Vera Cruz, grows naturally on all the mountains of the _Terre-Temperee_.
Unfortunately, the Indians destroy the plant by taking away all its
turbercles, and the time is not far distant when this drug, so much used
in Europe, will, like quinine, become very scarce.
I drew close to the precipice, and perceived l'Encuerado more than
twenty feet below me crawling, with all the skill of a monkey, over an
almost smooth surface. I ordered him to come up to us again; but he did
not seem able to get back, and remained motionless in his dangerous
position. Sumichrast hastened to bring me a lasso, which I let down to
our daring companion. But instead of ascending, he slid down four or
five feet, and placing himself astride on the projecting trunk of a
tree, called out to us to let go the lasso; this he tied round a stout
branch, and disappeared down the abyss.
It was not long before we saw him again install himself on the tree
round which he had rolled the leather strap, when he called out to us
that we might descend without any great danger.
"How shall we fasten it?" asked Lucien; "there are no thick branches
just at the edge."
"The strap is a long one, and there is a bush not far off with pretty
strong branches."
"But then we shall lose the lasso, for none will be left to loosen it."
"Upon my word!" cried Sumichrast, "Master Sunbeam is right."
Then each of us tried to solve the problem, proposing expedients more or
less impracticable.
"I've found it out," cried I at last, with quite as much satisfaction as
Archimedes when he leaped out of his bath.
Seizing my _machete_, I cut two stakes of a good thickness, which I
drove into the ground close to one another, about three yards from the
precipice. While Sumichrast with a club was consolidating my work, I cut
a stick about a foot long, to the middle of which I firmly tied the
lasso. I then placed it crosswise behind the stakes. I considered that
when we had let ourselves down to the spot occupied by l'Encuerado, a
sharp undulatory shake given to the lasso would be sufficient to
disengage the stick. When our preparations were finished, we let down
the basket to the man who carried it. Then Sumichrast, who was the
heaviest among us, slid down the cord to the tree which grew in so
convenient a position. The stakes scarcely yielded at all to his weight.
Continuing his descent, my friend soon joined the Indian.
Lucien's impatience was extreme; he was enchanted with this aerial
route.
"Now it's your turn," said I, as soon as I had drawn up the lasso.
"Are you going to tie me?" he asked in a disappointed tone.
"How did you suppose you would descend?"
"By holding on to the lasso, like l'Encuerado and M. Sumichrast,"
answered the boy.
"The grasp of your hands is not firm enough; you must not think of it; I
have no wish to risk your neck."
"Oh! dear father! do let me try."
"Certainly not; for if your trial failed, you would not be in a position
to try again."
[Illustration: "Then Sumichrast . . . slid down the cord to the tree."]
Not without some slight vexation Lucien was tied to the lasso, while
Gringalet, astonished, barked round us.
"Patience! patience!" I exclaimed to the dog; "it will be your turn
next, and then, perhaps, you will not seem so pleased."
I let the lasso slowly down, and the boy was soon safely lodged among
the branches of the tree. With care equal to mine, and with still firmer
knots, l'Encuerado tied the cord afresh. Then, leaning over the
precipice, I heard Sumichrast's voice ordering the Indian to let the
improvised cable slowly down. Seeing that the port was safely reached,
and relieved of a great care, I began tying Gringalet, who hadn't left
off howling since his young master disappeared. In spite of his terror,
I launched the dog into the air; he struggled, howled, and nearly evaded
l'Encuerado's friendly grasp; the latter, as he again let him down,
tried to explain the inutility of his struggles, and the danger of
breaking loose. At length, having for the last time examined the stakes
and the cross-piece, I also descended. I then shook the lasso, and at
once succeeded in disengaging it.
I saw below me Sumichrast and Lucien, seated on a narrow projection,
which led by a rocky declivity down to the foot of the mountain. Soon I
joined them, followed by the Indian. We had fixed the cross-bar between
two stout branches, and for a long time, without loosening the stick, I
shook the cord. At last, tired out, and about to leave it, the piece of
wood suddenly gave way, and nearly fell on me.
Walking now became very laborious, and it was occasionally difficult to
preserve our balance in passing over rocks, sometimes smooth, at others
very uneven. Our path lay between perfect hedges of orchids, of which
beautiful race Mexico possesses hundreds of species; we stopped at
nearly every step to admire some of these curiously shaped, brilliantly
colored, but often scentless flowers. L'Encuerado pointed out many
plants of the lynx flower, called by the Indians the _serpent-flower_,
the fine petals of which are dotted with yellow spots, and marbled with
pink, violet, and white. Farther on, another flower, the tiger-lily,
reminded us, by its color, of the animal from which it takes its name.
Plucking as he went along, Lucien became possessor of such a bouquet as
the richest gardens could not furnish. Of course he wanted to know the
names of all, but he was obliged to be content with learning that, with
the exception of the vanilla-plant, the brilliant legion of orchids
furnishes nothing utilized in the arts or industrial skill.
We had just reached the foot of the mountain, when an immense mass of
stones obliged us to turn aside. I took the lead, and an involuntary
slip brought me unexpectedly to a cave. My companions came running up in
answer to my call; I took three or four steps into the entrance, and
immediately made up my mind, from its thorough adaptability, to shelter
there for the night. While I, helped by Lucien, was collecting some
wood, l'Encuerado cleared the ground, and Sumichrast cut down two or
three shrubs which impeded the view. I then ordered the Indian to light
the fire, which would assist us to reconnoitre the entrance to the
cavern; which being done, it was necessary for us to go in search of
game for our dinner.
Looking from the plain, I could well judge of the feat we had
accomplished in our descent. Up to the level of the cave there were
shrubs and brush-wood. Higher up, orchids, with their bright flowers and
opal-green leaves; higher still rose a perpendicular and almost smooth
rampart, utterly impassable except through the fissure which had
afforded us egress. Sumichrast guided us through the thicket, where the
frangipanni-plants, covered with their sweet-scented flowers,
predominated, announcing our approach into the _Terre-Chaude_, and of a
completely altered nature of vegetation. Soon an immense mahogany-tree
(_Swietenia mahogoni_), with its thick boughs and dark-green foliage,
rose before us; a little farther on a fallen ceiba had crushed four or
five shrubs. The ceiba (_Eriodendron anfractuosum_) called _Pochotl_ by
the Indians, is one of the largest trees known; its fruit, of a pod-like
shape, contains a silky down, which possesses a singular property of
swelling in the sun. I was pointing out this peculiarity to Lucien, when
a formidable buzzing noise met our ears; a whole flock of Hercules
beetles had flown out of a bush and struck heavily against the branches
of a tree. Lucien caught one and wanted to hold it down on the ground,
but the insect got away from him and continued its flight.
[Illustration: "I then ordered the Indian to light the fire."]
"Oh!" cried the boy, "this beetle is stronger than I am!"
"It is not for nothing that it bears the name of _Hercules_," replied
Sumichrast, smiling; "as you have just found out, it is as remarkable
for its strength as for its size. It is a native of Brazil, and is only
occasionally found in Mexico."
"Do they always travel in flocks like this?"
"No; the occurrence is so rare that I shall make a note of it."
"I smell something like snuff," said Lucien, sneezing.
"It proceeds from the beetles," said Sumichrast.
And so powerful was this odor, that it caused Lucien several times to
sneeze. This was another fact to note down.
"Papa, do look at them hanging one on to another, and forming something
like an immense bunch of grapes. Do they bite with those powerful jaws?"
"They are horns which you mistake for jaws; but their arrangement quite
excuses your error. Look; the upper part of their body is black and
polished, and their wing-sheaths are a greenish gray, irregularly dotted
with dark spots."
"Here is one which has no horns."
"It is a female."
We were examining with some curiosity all the ways of the insect colony,
which was scarcely disturbed by our presence, when Gringalet, who had
also taken to sneezing, suddenly set up the most plaintive howl.
L'Encuerado had placed on the dog's back three or four beetles, which
had buried their claws in his skin. The Indian, surprised at the result
of his experiment, hurried to relieve the poor animal, which was rolling
on the ground; at last he succeeded in getting hold of him, but he had
much difficulty in freeing him from his vindictive assailants. One
beetle, indeed, seized hold of the hand of the mischievous wag, whose
grimaces much amused us; as fast as he disengaged one of the insect's
claws, the creature--which possessed six--soon found a chance to cling
on with others. Annoyed at having to strive with such a paltry enemy,
l'Encuerado at last tore the beetle roughly away, but the blood flowed
from his bronze-colored skin. Always too ready for revenge, he
threatened to exterminate the whole colony of beetles; but, smiling at
his ill-humor, I forbade his perpetrating such a useless massacre.
"They are nice gentlemen!" he cried; "because they had just heard
themselves called _Hercules_, they think they are strong enough to bite
the hands of every person they meet! Stupid fools, with noses longer
than their bodies, who fly away when Gringalet barks at them! Bite them!
Bite them!" cried he, setting the dog at them.
But the latter, with his ears drooped and his tail between his legs,
refused to obey, and, from this day forward I remarked that the least
buzzing from any insect was sufficient to render him uneasy.
Sumichrast, who had caught one of these large beetles, placed a stone
upon it which any one would have thought sufficient to have crushed it;
but, to Lucien's great admiration, the six-legged Hercules walked off
with its burden, almost without an effort. Ere long the beetles one by
one resumed their flight, and came buzzing around us, so it became
really necessary to beat a retreat, lest we should have our eyes put out
by their immense horns; Gringalet followed our example. Lucien sat down
so as to laugh at his ease, for l'Encuerado, instead of running away,
drew his bill-hook, assuming a threatening attitude to his enemies, and,
like one of Homer's heroes, defied them to come near him. At last the
whole band of beetles united and suspended themselves to the branch of a
ceiba, a tree for which the Hercules beetle shows a marked preference.
But we had in the mean time quite forgotten our dinners, so we set off
hunting in various directions. I skirted the edge of the forests,
accompanied by Sumichrast and Lucien. We had walked for an hour without
finding any thing, when four partridges, with ash-colored breasts, tawny
wings, and tufted heads, rose about fifty paces from us, and settled
down a little farther on. Having arrived within easy gunshot, I told my
son to fire when I did, and two of them (which _savants_ call the Sonini
partridge) fell dead on the ground. These pretty birds are rarely met
with in Mexico, at least in the part where we were.
I now returned towards the bivouac, taking a path through the forest.
"Oh papa, here's a great sponge!" cried Lucien, suddenly.
On our right there was a shapeless, porous, yellowish mass, rising three
or four feet above the ground. I saw at once that it was the nest of a
termite, or ant, which the Mexicans call _comejen_.
"It is a nest of white ants," I said to my son; "they are insects of the
neuropteral order, and allied to the _libellula_."
"But where are they?"
"You will soon see," I answered.
So, kicking the spongy mass, immediately out came a multitude of
insects, which swarmed about in every direction, as if to ascertain the
cause of the disturbance. Lucien wanted to examine them closer.
"Take care," I called out to him; "the termites you see are nothing but
the inoffensive workers; the soldier ants will soon make their
appearance, and if they bite you they will certainly draw blood."
Lucien looked at me, thinking I was joking.
"I am speaking quite seriously," I hastened to add; "termites, like bees
and ants, the latter of which they much resemble at first sight, live in
communities, and build nests which are often larger than the one you are
looking at. This nest, skillfully divided into cells, contains a king, a
queen, workmen, and soldiers. The workmen are the clever architects,
whose duty it is to build, maintain, and, in case of need, increase the
curious edifice which you took for a sponge. The only duty of the
soldiers is fighting against enemies that attempt to disturb the peace
of the colony."
"But I see thousands of holes; does each termite have a separate
chamber?"
"Not exactly; there is first a chamber for the queen, which is the
largest; then comes the nursery, afterwards a large compartment, in
which the working ants place the eggs which the queen lays night and
day."
"How I should like to see all this!"
Being convinced that practical illustration is better than the clearest
explanation, I again struck the nest. The workmen, who were beginning
to disappear, soon came out again to examine the spot threatened, and in
a moment after the surface of the nest appeared to be swarming. I then
kept making a noise at one point of the nest only, when the soldier ants
soon rushed out, easily recognizable by their enormous heads; finally, I
removed a small portion of the outside of the construction, and brought
to light a multitude of white specks. These were the eggs, which the
workmen hurried to carry farther into the nest. After having caused all
this disturbance, I led Lucien away, for the ground was covered with
soldier ants, and I was too well aware of the violence of their stings
to willingly expose him to them.
"But I haven't seen the queen," cried my young companion.
"She keeps quite in the centre of the building, immured in a cell which
she seldom or never leaves, for her bulk is equal to that of twenty or
thirty working ants. Sumichrast, who has been a great observer of these
insects, asserts that the queen lays about eighty thousand eggs a day.
As soon as they are hatched, the young termites are carried off into
large compartments, where they are fed until they are old enough to take
a part in the labor. During the rainy season, a certain number of white
ants are born with four wings, which enables them to proceed to a
distance and found other colonies; but these wings are only temporary,
and I have often been puzzled by finding immense quantities of them."
"How do the termites manage to build their dwellings?"
"The one we have just examined appears to be formed of earth, kneaded up
with a kind of gum which the insect secretes. In the subterranean
passages of a termite's nest there are arches which seem to be composed
of morsels of wood stuck together by some sticky matter. These insects
are omnivorous, and, like ants, take care to lay up abundant stores of
provisions."
We were now commencing to climb the mountain, and, raising my eyes
aloft, I was glad to see our two companions already seated by the fire.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]