92 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



say, to that order of birds which have two toes in front of 

 their claws and two behind, like your great friends the 

 parrots." 



After we had dressed the skins of the couroucous, and 

 carefully wrapped up the game, we again moved on. The 

 ground became stony and the descent steeper. At one 

 time I had hoped to find a spring at the bottom of the ra- 

 vine ; but we very soon discovered, to our great disappoint- 

 ment, that we should have to begin climbing again, leaving 

 behind us the oaks and the ceibas, and meeting with noth- 

 ing but gigantic pine-trees. The pine-needles* which liter- 

 ally carpeted the ground, made it so slippery, that for every 

 step forward we frequently took two backward. We fell 

 time after time, but our falls were not in the least degree 

 dangerous. Sometimes, as if at a signal, we all four rolled 

 down together, and each laughed at his neighbor's misfor- 

 tune, thus cheering one another. Lucien had an idea of 

 hanging on to Gringalet's tail, who was the only one that 

 could avoid these mishaps. This plan answered very well 

 at first ; but the dog soon after broke away by a sudden 

 jerk, and the boy rolled backward like a ball, losing all the 

 ground he had gained, but he at once got up again, quite in 

 a pet with the dog, for whom he predicted a fall as a punish- 

 ment for his treacherous behavior. 



The troublesome pine-needles obliged us again to resort 

 to the stake and lasso plan ; l'Encuerado, with his load, 

 strove in vain to keep up with us. 



"Can any one understand the use of these horrible 

 trees ?" grumbled the Indian. " Why can't they keep 

 their leaves to themselves ? Why don't they grow in the 

 plains, instead of making honest folks wear the flesh off 

 their bones in a place which is quite difficult enough to 

 traverse as it is ?" 



* The small tapering leaves of the pine are thus called. 



