350 THE OU-KA-LA. 



After attentively watching my absurd attempts 

 to produce a ringing whistle by placing my 

 fingers in my mouth, and blowing through them 

 until my face was like an apoplectic coachman's, a 

 smile of intelligence lit up his swarthy visage : 

 then I violently dug imaginary holes, and ex- 

 plained that the sounds came about twilight ; he 

 nodded his head, dived into the tent, and dis- 

 appeared in the smoke, to shortly emerge again 

 with a rug or robe, made from the skins of an 

 animal that was quite new to me. 



It was beautifully soft, glossy, and brown. 

 The skins were about the size of a large rat's, and 

 about twenty in number. Here, then, was the 

 dawn of a discovery. He called the animal Ou- 

 ka-la, and made me understand that it lived on 

 roots and vegetable matter, and burrowed holes 

 in the ground. 



As the daylight faded out, I again took my 

 seat; and, just as before, when everything was 

 silent, the woods echoed with the Ou-ka-la's cry. 

 I longed for morning, and hardly waited for 

 light, but hastened off to my trap ; and, joy of 

 joys, I had one sure enough, caught by the neck. 

 Poor Ou-ka-la ! your friends had heard, and you 

 had given, your 'last whistle.' He was dead and 

 cold trapped, perhaps, whilst I listened won- 



