Adventures of a Young Naturalist

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'...

Our Substitutes for Lamps.--First Glance into the Cave.--The Elaterides.--The Gothic Hall.--Stalagmites and Stalactites.--A Chichiquimec Cemetery.--The "Tree of St. Ignatius."--...

The King of the Vultures.--The Ticks.--L'Encuerado frightened by a Demon.--The Tapirs.--Good-bye to the Stream.--The Puma's Prey.--A miserable Night.--Our Departure.--The Savann...

The evening before leaving for one of my periodical excursions, I was putting in order my guns, my insect-cases, and all my travelling necessaries, when my eldest son, a lad nin...

It was the 20th April, 1864. The clock of the church of the convent of Saint Joseph de Grace chimed 4 A.M. just as we turned into the main street that leads out of the town.

The breakfast was a cheerful one, thanks to the Spanish wine spoken of by our host. The Indian laborers, with their wives and children, assembled in inquisitive groups round the...

I rose long before day and woke my companion. Lucien rubbed his eyes two or three times, trying in vain to make out where he was. After some moments, drawing the coverlet over h...

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. Th...

We were now more than 5000 feet above the level of the sea, and the coldness of the breeze quite surprised my son, who, being accustomed to the climate of the _Terre-Temperee_,...

The first thing I saw on opening my eyes was l'Encuerado, who was getting ready our coffee, and Lucien crouching close to the fire, piling up a quantity of dry branches round th...

Gringalet, who had been the first to give the alarm, was also the first to go to sleep again. I could not help waiting with some degree of anxiety for l'Encuerado's return. In a...

We left our bivouac at daybreak, first ascending and then descending, sometimes making our way through thickets and other times through glades; suddenly a flock of vultures attr...

L'Encuerado's prediction seemed as if it was likely to be realized. About three o'clock in the morning we were awakened by a hoarse roaring; the trees seemed to shiver; sometime...

The next day, when I opened my eyes, the sun was shining brightly in a blue sky. I made up the fire, and walked off, with my gun on my shoulder, to try and obtain some kind of g...

The rice-soup, our every-day fare, was, on this occasion, followed by fawn cutlets broiled on the embers, accompanied by potatoes. This precious tubercle, in its savage state, o...

As the sun was setting, our wisest course was to go back to our bivouac of the evening before, and to postpone until the next day the discovery of the passage we had sought in v...

Lucien, seated on the grass, amused himself with touching all the plants within reach of his travelling staff; suddenly he noticed that the branches and leaves of a small shrub...

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 h...

OUR SUBSTITUTES FOR LAMPS.--FIRST GLANCE INTO THE CAVE.--THE ELATERIDES.--THE GOTHIC HALL.--STALAGMITES AND STALACTITES.--A CHICHIQUIMEC CEMETERY.--THE "TREE OF ST. IGNATIUS."--...

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 cr...

It rained all night, and I awoke about seven o'clock in the morning shivering with cold. It was Ascension-day, and l'Encuerado, before making up the fire, chanted a canticle, an...

The next day, which was the nineteenth since our departure from Orizava, we examined and compared our compasses, and the course of our journey was changed. Hitherto we had proce...

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'Encu...

The sun had not risen when we were up and ready to start. We shivered with cold, for on the great plateau which we had now reached, to which the inhabitants of the lower regions...

The dwelling so generously put at our disposal was a large shed, divided into three rooms by bamboo partitions; mats, spread out on the ground, formed our beds, and the remainde...

As soon as it was light, I awoke Sumichrast and Lucien. L'Encuerado was sleeping so soundly, after his exploits of the night before, that we hesitated to disturb him. I intended...

Three days of difficult travelling brought us into the midst of the _Terre-Temperee_. Thus we had traversed the whole breadth of the Cordillera, at one time shivering on their s...

I again dressed the wound, the Indian continuing to hurl fresh abuse at the otter. I made him keep quiet, and prepared the coffee. Sumichrast and Lucien then rose, and we decide...

I was suddenly awakened by the report of a gun just as the day was breaking. L'Encuerado showed me an enormous squirrel, with a gray back and white belly--a species which never...

Gringalet's barking, the yelping of the coyotes, the heat, the song of the grasshoppers, and the sting of the mosquitoes, all combined to disturb our rest. About five o'clock th...

The parrots that we heard chattering were quite sufficient to wake us up in the morning. The sun rose red and angry; a perfect concert soon greeted its appearance. The hoccos se...

We were all stirring by sunrise. After throwing away the remains of yesterday's meat, one night in this climate being enough to putrefy it, l'Encuerado arranged some fishing-lin...

After looking at us for a moment, the animal crept cunningly round us, alternately appearing and disappearing behind the trees. I hastened to make up the fire, and then sat down...

The next day found us at work building our raft, and l'Encuerado went off with Lucien in quest of some flexible creepers, to be used for binding together the various portions of...

After we had finished our breakfast next morning, we embarked our baggage and menagerie, and prepared to depart. I was just going on board the raft when a noise attracted our at...

THE KING OF THE VULTURES.--THE TICKS.--L'ENCUERADO FRIGHTENED BY A DEMON.--THE TAPIRS.--GOOD-BYE TO THE STREAM.--THE PUMA'S PREY.--A MISERABLE NIGHT.--OUR DEPARTURE.--THE SAVANN...

My friend several times gave him his gourd to wet his tongue from, but it was only temporary relief. Night came on, and we began to prepare for our almost hopeless march. A mout...