OVERLAND TO LA ESPERANZA 31 



life at his feet. But neither of these knows the 

 intense and more intellectual pleasure of the 

 naturalist, he with problems to solve, and secrets 

 of nature to probe. When arrived at last where 

 the book of nature lies open before him, its 

 language acquired and its characters understood, 

 he feels a real exaltation. Our naturalist has 

 most likely studied in laboratories and museums 

 among depressing specimens of preserved life. 

 He has measured bones of dead creatures, dis- 

 sected their hardened and distorted tissues, but 

 dreaming always of some happy day when he 

 may see them alive amid their own surroundings. 



We could scarcely curb our impatience to secure 

 the only cab of Vinales — a vehicle even more 

 pitiful than the Pinar cabs — and drive to La 

 Puerta del Ancon, a narrow pass through the 

 Sierra de Vinales and by which the road enters 

 another beautiful valley beyond. At this place we 

 knew there were some fine land-shells to be found ; 

 and just "around the corner," on the north side of 

 the Sierra de Vinales, a cove of surpassing beauty, 

 is the special haunt of one big lusty land-shell 

 that we much wanted (Cepolis subtussulcata) . We 

 fell upon the spot and in three or four hours had 



