SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



185 



privations and sufferings during that period 

 almost exceed credibility, his precarious exist- 

 ence depending on vegetables and insects, pro- 

 cured in the forests where he remained, with- 

 out the smallest communication with his fellow- 

 creatures. In consequence of his mental and 

 corporeal sufferings, he was at one time at- 

 tacked by fever, and remained eleven days at 

 the entrance of a cavern, stretched on the 

 ground without food, hourly expecting a 

 termination of his wretched existence: in- 

 deed, so near to death was he, that the vul- 

 tures were constantly hovering over him in 

 expectation of their prey. The first nourish- 

 ment he received was the warm blood of one 

 of these birds, which had approached to feast 

 on his half-closed eyes, when he seized him by 

 the neck, and was by means of this sustenance 

 enabled to crawl to the nearest water to slake 

 his parching thirst. After the expulsion of 

 the Spaniards, an old and faithful Indian dis- 



