Adventures of a Young Naturalist Part 26

After resting an hour, we all set off to seek our dinner. I examined with much curiosity the neighborhood of our encampment. The presence of skulls in the cave proved that some Indian tribe had once inhabited this locality; but as the Chichimec (or Chichiquimec, in the chapter-heading) Indians constructed nothing but huts, time had, doubtless, obliterated all trace of their former presence.

I can hardly describe the pleasure I felt in again viewing the woods, the verdure, the insects, the flowers, and enjoying the light of the sun. The interior of a cave, certainly, has the effect of producing melancholy, attributable, no doubt, to the silence and darkness; for the beautiful hall, radiant with stalact.i.tes, was but little likely to cause sadness. The effect on Lucien's mind was of a serious character, and he seemed never to be weary of asking questions.

"These natural hollows," said Sumichrast, "often occur in gypsum mountains, but still more frequently in volcanic or calcareous ma.s.ses.

Some, which are as old as the world itself, date from the earliest upheavals of the surface of the globe, when the fused matter which composes the centre of the earth broke through the scarcely solidified crust, and, rus.h.i.+ng upward, formed the mountain chains we now see."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Crater of Popocatepetl.]

"Then the centre of the earth has been once in a liquid state?"

"It is so still, as is shown by volcanoes; but the period of great catastrophes is past. The molten matter solidified on the surface, as it became cool, and then water made its appearance, and transformed and rendered habitable the thin crust on which we live, the thickness of which is so inconsiderable when compared with the bulk of the globe."

"What is this molten matter composed of which is burning under our feet?"

"The same substances which we see around us--granite, porphyry, and basalts, which are called _igneous_ or _Vulcanian rocks_, as contrasted with the _Neptunean rocks_, such as gypsum or lime, clay and sandstone, the agglomeration of which is attributed to water. The science which deals with these subjects is called _geology_, a study with which, some day, you will be delighted."

"Then all Vulcanian rocks can be melted?"

"Yes, if they were subject to as great a heat as that existing in the centre of the earth, which reaches an intensity at which the imagination recoils. But to return to the subject of caves. Some have been produced by the dissolving action of water. Thus, at some future date, the spring which we saw gus.h.i.+ng out from the fallen mountain might dry up or alter its direction, and leave for the curiosity of future travellers the sight of chambers full of stalact.i.tes such as we have inspected."

Our geological chat was interrupted by an exclamation from l'Encuerado, who had just discovered a tree which the Mexicans call "the Tree of St.

Ignatius." Its fruit is of a brown color, with a woody husk, something like small melons, which, as they hang on the tree, strike against one another with a sharp sound. L'Encuerado informed Lucien that this fruit is in the habit of bursting suddenly with a loud explosion, and that the flat beans which they contain are much used as medicine.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Sumichrast led the way through the forest, where we were sheltered under the tall trees. After a somewhat long ramble, during which we met with nothing but magpies, I requested l'Encuerado to guide us back to our bivouac. All of a sudden my friend enjoined silence; an opossum, followed by five young ones, was coming near us on our left. The animal indolently approached a tree of middling size, which it climbed, aided by its prehensile tail. Its progeny crowded busily round the foot of the tree, uttering plaintive cries. The opossum then came down again, and scarcely had it put foot to the ground before its disconsolate family rushed pell-mell into the maternal pouch. Thus loaded, the animal climbed the tree more slowly, and sat herself quietly on one of the 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 princ.i.p.ally 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

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 quant.i.ty. The _tlalcacahuatl_, which is cla.s.sed by botanists in the leguminous order, produces yellowish, wrinkled pods, each containing three or four kernels, which are eaten after being roasted in their sh.e.l.ls; 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 Ma.s.s, but, at all events, we can try to please G.o.d 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 rea.s.sured 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 s.h.i.+ny 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, p.r.i.c.king 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."