A YOUNG NATURALIST. 



153 



ted birds of the Passerine family. We were just about to 

 begin climbing the slope, when l'Encuerado, whose piercing 

 eyes seemed to see every thing, exclaimed : 

 " There are some potatoes !" 



Lucien ran towards the Indian, who, with his machete, 

 had already cleared away the earth round a small plant with 

 oval -shaped leaves, covered with soft greenish berries. 

 Some wrinkled tubercles were ere long discovered, which 

 we could easily crush between our fingers. This is the or- 

 igin of the valuable plant for which Europe is indebted to 

 America. 



After climbing some time, we came upon a mass of rocks 

 all heaped up in a perfect chaos. Some obstacle or other 

 incessantly obliged us either to jump over or make a circuit 

 so as to get forward. The temperature, however, was re- 

 freshing, and rendered our exertions less fatiguing. 



The chances of our journey brought us out once more 

 upon the plateau. All the mountain crests we could see 

 were barren, and a profound silence reigned on every side. 

 We stopped to take breath, and the sight that met our eyes 

 impressed us with its stern grandeur. It reminded Su- 

 michrast of the Swiss mountains which he had so often trav- 

 ersed ; and some flowers he gathered further recalled his 

 home. While thus occupied, two butterflies fluttered over 

 our heads. 



" It is an Alpine species !" eagerly cried my friend. 



The locality prevented him from following these capri- 

 cious insects for any distance : for one moment he leaned 

 over the abyss, bristling up with rocks, and followed, with a 

 longing eye, the two winged flowers which had recalled to 

 him a fleeting image of his fatherland. 



A labyrinth of rocks brought us out in front of a stony 

 rampart more than a hundred feet in height, and almost 

 perpendicular. This unexpected obstacle brought us to a 



