60 THE ADVENTURES OF A YOUNQ NATURALIST. 



ing left but ashes. But he will take good care not to lose 

 the fruit of his labor. He will use as many precautions to 

 prevent the fire burning up again as he does now to hinder 

 it going out." 



A little farther on a man was filling up his rush bags 

 with charcoal which had cooled. As it would take him 

 more than one day to reach the town, he was lining his 

 sacks with a kind of balm, the penetrating odor of which 

 always announces, in Mexico, the approach of a charcoal- 

 carrier. This plan is adopted to preserve the charcoal 

 from damp. 



" When I used to see the Indians carrying on their backs 

 their four little- sacks of charcoal," said Lucien, " I had no 

 idea that they were obliged to live in the woods, and cut 

 down great trees to procure it ; and that they had to pass 

 several nights in watching the oven." 



" No more idea, perhaps," I replied, " than the little boys 

 in Europe have of the sugar-cane plantations ; and that 

 without the plant all those beautiful bon-bons, which de- 

 light the sight as much as the taste, could not be made." 



" But, papa, haven't I heard you tell the Mexicans that 

 in France they make sugar with beet-root ?" 



" Yes, certainly you have ; and, in case of need, it might 

 be extracted from many other roots, plants, or fruit; but 

 beet-root alone yields enough sugar to repay the trouble of 

 extraction." 



It was quite time for us to be off ; so I put an end to 

 the ceaseless questions of the young traveller. 



Our host told me that if we went on along the same path 

 which had led us to their place, we should come, in less 

 than two hours, to a hut situated on the plateau of the 

 mountain. The Indians certainly seemed to forget that 

 Lucien's short legs might delay our progress. 



