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A YOUNG NATURALIST. 287 



till we found it. In one of these searches, I caught sight of such 

 a picturesque bay, that I proposed a halt. In front of us opened 

 a tolerably deep glade, bordered by tall palm trees. L'Encuerado 

 pushed the raft to land over the aquatic plants, and I jumped 

 ashore to moor our craft. 



A fallen tree tempted us into the forest, and, on the damp 

 ground, Lucien caught sight of a magnificent rattlesnake, 

 seemingly torpid. Sumichrast discharged his gun at the reptile, 

 which reared itself up, and then fell down dead. A noise im- 

 mediately resounded in several directions, and two or three 

 snakes of the same family appeared, one of them followed by 

 three young ones. The snake killed by my friend measured 

 more than a yard in length. Its skin was speckled with black, 

 brown, and gray spots, and its flat, triangular head had a very 

 repulsive look. Lucien, with a blow from his machete, cut ofi" 

 the rattles, which give to the reptile its name. These horny 

 appendages, of which there were seven, were given to I'Encuerado, 

 who, like all his fellow-countrymen, believed them to be endued 

 with miraculous virtues,— among others, that of tuning guitars 

 and preventing the strings from breaking. 



A shot fired by the Indian led us back to the bivouac ; our 

 companion had just killed an ocelot, called by the Indians 



ocotchotli 



"You see this animal, Chanito'?" cried I'Encuerado, who was 

 stroking its black and brown spotted fur ; " well, its tongue is 

 poisonous. When it kills a stag or peccary, it buries its prey 

 under some leaves, then climbs the nearest tree, and howls 

 until it attracts all the carnivorous animals near. When they 

 have feasted, it comes down and devours what is left." 



" But why does it call the animals 1 " I asked. 



•'' Didn't I tell you its tongue is poisonous 1 If it ate first, the 

 venom would be communicated to the food, and the animals that 

 feasted on the remains would die." 



This fable, narrated by Hernandez, and still told by the 

 Indians, must have originated in some as yet unobserved habit 



of the ocotchotli. 



After dinner, when Lucien was going towards his pets to give 



