380 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



charm of novelty, but this I vrould not have exchanged 

 for a dejeuner a la fourchette at the best restaurant of 

 Paris. The wild turkey v^as not more than enough for 

 my household, w^hich consisted of Nicolas. 



Resuming our journey, in two hours we emerged 

 from the v^oods, and came into an open country in 

 sight of the Cerros of Collito, a fine bare peak, stand- 

 ing alone, conical, and covered with grass to the top. 

 At twelve o'clock we reached the rancho of an Indian. 

 On one side was a group of orange-trees loaded Avith 

 fruit, and in front a shed thatched with leaves of Indian 

 corn. An old Indian woman was sitting in the door, 

 and a sick Indian was lying asleep under the shed. It 

 was excessively hot, and riding under the shed, I dis- 

 mounted, threw myself into a ragged hammock, and 

 while quenching my thirst with an orange fell asleep. 

 The last that I remembered was seeing Nicolas drive 

 into the hut a miserable half-starved chicken. At two 

 o'clock he woke me, and set before me the unfortunate 

 little bird, nearly burned up, the expense of which, 

 with oranges ad libitum, was six and a quarter cents, 

 which the old woman wished to commute for a charge 

 of gunpowder. I was very poor in this, and would 

 rather have given her a dollar, but could not help add- 

 ing the charge of gunpowder to the coin. 



At two o'clock we set off again. We had already 

 made a day's journey, but I had a good resting-place 

 for the night in view. It was excessively hot, but very 

 soon we reached the woods again. We had not gone 

 far before a deer crossed our path. It was the first I 

 had seen in the country, which was almost destitute of 

 all kinds of game. Indeed, during my whole journey, 

 except at the wild turkey, I had fired but twice, and then 

 merely to procure curious birds ; and most unfortunate- 



