242 THE ADVENTURES OF 



whole surface of the globe, and that they are white, blue, red, 

 green, and brown; and sometimes all these shades blend to- 

 gether, and add their brilliancy to the pleasing shape of the bird. 

 The pigeon or dove, which is adopted as the emblem of mildness 

 and innocence, is readily tamed ; its flight is rather heavy, but 

 lasting ; and, in Belgium chiefly, it is used as a bearer of letters, 

 by conveying the bird to a long distance from its home, to which 

 its instinct always leads it to return." 



Lucien seemed very thoughtful. 



" I wish I had known that before," he said ; " we might have 

 brought a pigeon or two witlj us, and then poor mamma would 

 have had news of us before now." 



Sumichrast, who had taken upon himself the ofiBce of head- 

 cook, vacant owing to I'Encuerado's wound, returned to the 

 bivouac, laden with our game. I skirted the wood in company 

 with Lucien, who was the first to discover a West Indian cherry- 

 tree — Malpighia glabra. The red, fleshy, and acid fruit was much 

 to our taste ; so the boy climbed the tree in order to get plenty, 

 rejoicing in the idea of giving his friends an agreeable surprise. 

 When he had finished, we went to examine a dead tree. A piece 

 of bark, quickly pulled off, discovered a quantity of those insects 

 commonly called earwigs. 



" Do you notice, papa, those white specks one of the earwigs is 

 covering with its body ? " 



" It is a female, sitting on her eggs ; but look at this ! " 



" Eight, ten, twelve little ones ! How pretty they are ! One 

 might well fancy that they were being led by the big earwig, 

 which keeps turning round to them. There! now she has 

 stopped, and the little ones are crawling all round her." 



I could hardly get Lucien away from his interesting study ; 

 but the hissing of a snake which I turned out from under a stone, 

 soon brought the boy to me. I caught hold of the reptile, which 

 rolled itself with some force round my arm. The boy, quite 

 speechless with surprise, looked anxiously at me. 



"0 father !" exclaimed he in terror, running towards me. 



"Don't be alarmed; this reptile has no fangs, and it is so 

 small I can handle it quite safely." 



