Adventures of a Young Naturalist Part 44

"Woe be to the fish that is of your opinion. There! did you remark its sudden movement? It plunges its head down into the water like a flash of lightning; and now you can see it holds its prey in its beak. Now it is spreading its short black-edged wings in order to take flight, and divide among its young brood the products of its labors. Do you see that beautiful large bird with a tuft on its forehead? That is the _Ardea agami_, a wader of the heron genus. But look, there is a flock of egretts (_Egretta alba_), clothed in their plumage as white as the ermine. They fly about in flocks, but separate for their fis.h.i.+ng. These birds have rather a grave and sad air, and utter now and then a wild and plaintive cry."

We stopped to watch these waders gloomily standing in the water, until we heard l'Encuerado's "Hiou! hiou!" informing us that our companions were approaching the bivouac. I took Lucien through the forest, replying to his numerous questions about the Grallatores, when we heard the chattering and clatter produced by a band of monkeys. About twenty wild turkeys, doubtless frightened by the noise, rushed between our legs. I let the poor fugitives go, for we had already more victuals than we could consume. Lucien wondered at the number of animated beings which surrounded us, all the more surprising when compared with the gloomy solitude we had just pa.s.sed through.

"In the _Terre-Chaude_," said I, "the water-side is always fertile, for the inhabitants both of the prairies and the forests meet there."

"Why don't the Mexicans live in such a varied and beautiful country as the _Terre-Chaude_?"

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"Because a dragon guards the entrance to these countries where nature lavishes its choicest gifts."

"A dragon?"

"Yes; the yellow fever. A terrible malady which corrupts the blood, and selects the most robust frames for its victims. The negro only can labor under this burning sun; where even an Indian is overcome by the marsh fever."

"Are we liable to catch these fevers?"

"We should be in danger if we staid here till the rainy season."

"How that tree is loaded with fruit!" said Lucien, interrupting me.

"They are the Mexican medlars. To-morrow we will come and gather some of them. Five or six different species of their genus grow in these virgin forests. These beautiful trees produce various fruit, which is more or less in request. That which has attracted your attention--the _Sapota achras_--is especially well known. It is considered the most wholesome of all the tropical fruits; and from the trunk of the tree oozes out the white gum called _chicle_, which the inhabitants of the _Terre-Chaude_ and the _Terre-Temperee_ are so fond of chewing."

The night overtook us just as we were discussing a haunch of venison roasted by l'Encuerado. A distant roaring told us that we were surrounded by wild beasts; but we had every confidence in our two fires and the screen which l'Encuerado had constructed; so we went quietly to sleep, although we were awakened several times by a renewal of their frightful uproar.

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CHAPTER XXVIII.

A GROVE OF LOGWOOD TREES.--ANTS AT THEIR WORK.--PARASITIC INSECTS.--THE GREAT ANT-EATER.--SPOONBILLS AND HERONS.--LOST IN THE FOREST.

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 fis.h.i.+ng-lines along the stream, and our little party set off, struggling against the heat, the mosquitoes, and the horse-flies.

The Indian, following the flight of a purple-feathered bird, led us close to an immense ant-hill. The little colony seemed very busy; but I hurried Lucien away, fearing he might be bitten by them.

"The ants are relations of the termites, are they not, M. Sumichrast?"

"No, Master Sunbeam; the ants are relations of the bees, and, consequently, belong to the order of _Hymenoptera_. There are male, female, and neuter or working ants. The males and females are born with wings; but after the females have laid their eggs, they drop off these appendages, and a.s.sist the workers engaged in constructing the habitation, taking care of the young ones, and collecting the provisions required for the colony."

"Look here! one might fancy that the very gra.s.s was walking along."

"It is the ants which have stripped a tree of its leaves, in order to h.o.a.rd them up in their store-houses--a useless precaution, for these insects become torpid during the winter months."

Lucien approached the moving column, which was divided into two lines going contrary ways; one of them advancing loaded with vegetable remains, and the other going back with empty mandibles. Nothing could be more interesting than to see thousands of these little creatures walking along in perfect order, eagerly carrying or dragging a load five or six times greater than themselves. Lucien followed them. The column entered the forest, and crawled up a tree, the lower limbs of which were already stripped of their leaves, causing it to look as if it were dead. The ants climbed nearer and nearer to the top, and the summit was visibly losing its foliage.

"How long will they take to carry away all the leaves off that great tree?" asked Lucien.

"They will have finished their work by this evening," I answered.

Gringalet, who with generous confidence was lying down a few steps behind us, and had not seen his enemies creeping slyly over him, got up and began howling.

"Will you never be prudent?" cried l'Encuerado.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "It stood up on its hind legs."]

"Any one must be as simple as a new-born infant to squat on an anthill.

This is the second time you have done it."

Here the advice-giver was suddenly interrupted; he made a face, lifted up one of his legs, and walked away with long strides; then he sat down on the ground in order to catch the ants which had secreted themselves under his leathern s.h.i.+rt. I could not help laughing at him.

"Look here, Gringalet's skin is all over lumps!" said Lucien, stroking the animal.

"They are caused by parasitic insects," said Sumichrast, "called ticks.

In future we must clear Gringalet every evening of these inconvenient visitors."

"But they won't come off."

"Pull them suddenly; their mouth is a kind of disk armed with two hooks, which, if once buried in an animal's skin, are difficult to extract."

"How hideous they look with their little legs placed close to their heads; here is one which is quite round, like a pea."

"It is because it has begun its meal."

"Does the tick only attack dogs?"

"The dog has his own peculiar species; other kinds lodge under birds'

feathers, and some birds have two or three sorts of parasites. There is one belonging to the turkey, to the peac.o.c.k, to the sparrow, to the vulture, to the magpie, etc. I don't think there is a bird or animal which does not, like Gringalet, possess its own peculiar parasite."

We had started off again, and another glade led us towards a field extensively ploughed up by moles.

Sumichrast led the way, and conducted us towards the lake I had mentioned to him the day before. L'Encuerado caught hold of my arm to call my attention to an enormous animal moving about in the midst of the foliage.

The animal came down slowly, and we could only see it indistinctly. At last it reached the lower branches. It was an ant-eater (_Myrmecophaga jub[=a]t[=a]_). It remained motionless for an instant, moving its enormous muzzle, and darting out its flat tongue, which, being covered with a slimy coating, enabled it to catch up the ants with facility. At length the "bear," as it is called by the Indians, slid down the trunk, hanging on to it with its enormous claws, its prehensile tail strongly clinging to the sides of the tree.

At the sight of this shapeless beast, only fifty paces from us, Lucien rushed to me in terror. Sumichrast had just c.o.c.ked his gun, and the noise made the ant-eater turn tail and prepare to run off, when it found itself face to face with l'Encuerado. It stood up on its hind legs, with its snout in the air, and then stretched out its arms ready to strike any one who was imprudent enough to come within reach of them. Nothing could be more strange than the appearance of the animal in this defensive position. Suddenly a shot was fired, and the ant-eater crossed its fore legs and fell down dead. L'Encuerado had once been nearly throttled by an ant-eater, and hence it would have been of no use for me to have attempted to prevent his shooting it.

"Do not come near, Tata Sumichrast," cried the Indian; "these beasts die very hard, and I still bear the marks of their claws on my skin. Let me just tickle him up with the point of my _machete_."

"You need not have been afraid," said Sumichrast; "its ugliness is no proof that it is vicious. It will not attack human beings, and only makes use of its strength to defend itself. It is of the order Edentala, and akin to the armadilloes."

"Does it eat any thing but ants?" asked Lucien.