A YOUNG NATURALIST. 67 



" I have nothing to offer you to eat, I am afraid." 

 " Perhaps you can sell us a fowl and some eggs." 

 " Well, I must see if my husband objects to guests." 

 " Surely your husband will not refuse the shelter of his 

 roof to weary travellers ?" 



She reflected for a moment, and then answered, 

 " No, he is a Christian ! Come in and rest yourselves." 

 The Indian woman called to her children, who one after 

 the other showed their wild-looking heads peeping out from 

 some hiding-place, and ordered them to drive away the dogs. 

 It was not without some degree of pleasure we got rid of 

 our travelling gear, as we felt no ordinary amount of wea- 

 riness, which was easily accounted for by the exertion of our 

 recent ascent. L'Encuerado, always brisk, began to assist 

 the housewife ; he stirred up the fire, arranged the plates, 

 and looked to their being clean. The Indian woman then 

 asked him to go and draw some water from a spring about 

 a hundred yards from the hut ; and off he went, led by 

 the children of our hostess. His young guides, completely 

 naked, and their heads shaved, rode on bamboo -canes as 

 make-believe horses, and pranced along in front of him. 



Except on the side we had just ascended, the plateau was 

 entirely surrounded by high mountains. The hut, which 

 was built of planks and covered with thatch, appeared very 

 cleanly kept. Behind it extended a small kitchen garden, 

 in which fennel, the indispensable condiment in Aztec cook- 

 ery, grew in great abundance ; in front, there was a large 

 tobacco plantation, and an inclosure where both goats and 

 pigs lived on good terms with each other. The situation 

 appeared somewhat dull to us; but in the tropics the ab- 

 sence of sunshine is sufficient to give a sombre look to the 

 most beautiful landscape. 



Lucien wanted to pay a visit to the tobacco-field. The 

 stems of this plant are more than three feet high, covered 



