1 62 In Touch with Nature. 



dangers that could not be overlooked. There is 

 nothing funny in facing a rattlesnake, and to put 

 your hand upon a centipede may stay farther 

 climbing for that day. Even to have a tarantula 

 comb your eyebrows is somewhat of a shock. 

 None of these things happened, but the climb was 

 by no means stupid ; and when a great bare rock 

 was reached, whereon we rested, each was eager 

 to narrate his own little adventure. He who first 

 spoke uttered the opinion of all, that probably no 

 one had ever been so foolhardy before as to climb 

 this hill, and the pleasant feelings of the discoverer 

 filled our silly breasts ; but only to receive a shock. 

 A clatter as of rolling stones was heard. We 

 looked down the hill, and there was a Mexican 

 walking at his ease, his patient burro following. 

 Conversation ceased and I turned my thoughts 

 into new channels. These Mexican wood-gatherers 

 and their little donkeys or burros did not prove 

 vastly entertaining. They moved along with less 

 animation than the ore-buckets on the tram-way, 

 and recalled the sluggish " Gila monsters," that 

 will wait a week for a rock to roll away rather 

 than go round it. In one case the donkey proved 



