156 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



on again, having now got up to sticks as large as 

 the finger. These he coaxed along with many 

 tears, and at the next size he saved his own wind 

 and used his petata, or straw hat. A gentle blaze 

 rose in the whole centre of the pile ; still he coax- 

 ed it along, and by degrees brought on sticks as 

 large as his arm, which, by a gentle waving of 

 his hat, in a few minutes were all ignited. Our 

 uncertainty was at an end. The whole pile was 

 in a blaze, and all four of us went busily to work 

 gathering fuel. There was no necessity for dry 

 wood ; we cut down bushes, and carried them in 

 green ; all burned together ; the flames extended, 

 and the heat became so great that we could not 

 approach to throw on more. In our satisfaction 

 with the result we did not stop to read the moral 

 of the lesson taught us by the Indian boy. The 

 flames were fast rectifying the damp, unwholesome 

 atmosphere, and inducing more warm and genial 

 sensations. Very soon, however, this bettering of 

 our house's condition drove us out of doors. The 

 smoke rolled through the long apartment, and, curl- 

 ing along the roof, passed into the front sala, where, 

 dividing, it rushed through the doors in three dense 

 bodies, and rolled up the front of the palace. We 

 sat down outside, and watched it as it rolled away. 



While this was going on, the mayoral crawled 

 along the same path by which we had ascended, 

 and told us that the luggage had arrived. How it 

 could be got to us seemed a problem. The slight 



