236 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



to penetrate into the cave without further delay. He 

 scarcely gave himself time enough to eat, and scolded l'En- 

 cuerado for being so slow, which was an indirect mode of 

 asking us to hurry. 



Having again reached the forest, we searched for a pine 

 or a fir, the branches of which, being full of resin, would 

 have enabled us to show more mercy to the moles. Hear- 

 ing us mention these two trees, Lucien wanted to know the 

 difference between them. 



"They both belong to the Coniferous family," replied 

 Sumichrast ; " but firs generally grow upon lofty mountains 

 far inland, while pines abound on sea-coasts, the shifting, 

 sandy soil of which is, after a time, consolidated and fertil- 

 ized by them." 



Sumichrast's explanation still left much wanting ; I saw 

 this from Lucien's numerous questions ; but without seeing 

 a specimen of each tree it would have been difficult to bet- 

 ter describe their peculiar characteristics. 



After a long and unsuccessful walk, we halted in front of 

 a guaiac-tree with dark-green foliage, a higher tree than any 

 we had before met with. This fine member of the Ruta- 

 cean family was covered with pale-blue flowers. It pro- 

 duces a gum used especially by the English in the prepara- 

 tion of tooth-pow T der ; but the hardness of its wood, which 

 would have blunted our weapons, induced me to pass it by. 

 A little farther on, l'Encuerado spied out a liquid-amber 

 tree, valuable on account of the balsam that oozes from its 

 branches when cut, which is burned by the Indians as in- 

 cense. He climbed the knotty trunk of this colossus, and 

 cut off some branches, which Sumichrast split into small 

 pieces, after I had cleared off their leaves. Our work was 

 interrupted by the approach of night, and we made our 

 way to our bivouac, each loaded with a heavy fagot. 



As soon as we arrived, Lucien had the satisfaction of try- 



