SOUTH AMERICA. 



303 



very short time. Bearing in mind the trouble and time Fourth 



JoUKNEY. 



it had cost me to make a ball, I could account for this 



Indian's expedition, in no other way, except, that being 

 an inhabitant of the forest, he knew how to go about his 

 work in a much shorter way than I did. His ball, to be 

 sure, had very little elasticity in it. I tried it repeatedly, 

 but it never rebounded a yard high. The young Indian 

 watched me with great gravity, and when I made him 

 understand that I expected the ball would dance better, 

 he called another Indian, who knew a little English, to 

 assure me that I might be quite easy on that score. The 

 young rogue, in order to render me a complete dupe, 

 brought the new moon to his aid. He gave me to 

 understand that the ball was like the little moon, which 

 he pointed to, and by the time it grew big and old, the 

 ball would bounce beautifully. This satisfied me, and I 

 gave him the fish-hooks, Avhich he received without the 

 least change of countenance. 



I bounced the ball repeatedly for two months after, but 

 I found that it still remained in its infancy. At last I 

 suspected that the savage (to use a vulgar phrase) had 

 come Yorkshire over me ; and so I determined to find out 

 how he had managed to take me in. I cut the ball in 

 two, and then saw what a taught trick he had played me. 

 It seems he had chewed some leaves into a lump, the size 

 of a walnut, and then dipped them in the liquid gum- 

 elastic. It immediately received a coat about as thick 



