42 THE ADVENTURES OF 



call this plant nicotian. It is a certain fact that the modern 

 Mexican Indians smoke hardly anything but cigars or cigarettes. 

 As for pipes, they have not long known of the existence of such 

 things; and the works of certain romancers, who so often describe 

 the Aztecs as having the pipe of peace, war, or council constantly 

 in their mouths, are simply ridiculous. You may recollect how 

 astonished the French were, on their arrival here, to find they 

 could not procure any cut tobacco ; whilst, on the other hand, 

 the Indians crowded to see the foreigners inhale the smoke of the 

 plant from instruments made of clay, wood, or porcelain."* 



"I remember," cried Lucien, "that one day I'Encuerado took a 

 pipe belonging to an ofl&cer who was staying with papa, and began 

 to smoke it. You should have seen what horrible faces he made ! " 



" Well, what happened to him ? " asked Sumichrast. 



" The pipe made him sick, and then papa, who knew nothing 

 about his smoking, gave him some medicine; but TEncuerado 

 told me that the medicine was not nearly so nasty as the pipe." 



The culprit, who had just joined us, cast down his eyes at this 

 tale about him, and murmured in a sententious tone of voice, 

 " Pipes are an invention of the devil." t 



Followed by my companions, I again drew near to the hut, 

 and the master came out to bid us welcome. Our hostess placed 

 upon a mat an earthen dish containing a fowl cooked with rice, 

 and the Indian, his wife, and his sister-in-law, offered to wait on 

 us. Lucien invited the children to partake of our repast ; but 

 they refused to sit down beside us. Towards the conclusion of 

 our dinner, one of them brought us half a dozen bananas, which 

 were most welcome ; while we were drinking our coffee, the little 

 troop made up a game of hide-and-seek. To my great satisfaction, 

 I saw that, in spite of the long day's journey, Lucien joined in and 

 ran and jumped about with as much energy as his playmates. 



At last the children got tired of this game, and, bringing a kid, 



* The Indiana that inhabit the. vast plains to the north of Mexico all 

 smoke ; from this, doubtless, arises the usual supposition that all American 

 Indians smoke. — Ed. 



t In giving utterance to this anathema, I'Encuerado was unknowingly 

 agreeing with James I., king of England, who published a work against 

 smokers. 



