A YOUNG NATURALIST. 



253 



herself quietly on one of the lowest branches. We could 

 see nothing but the pointed muzzles and black eyes of the 

 little ones, which seemed as if they were looking down 

 from the top of a balcony. One of them at last ventured 

 to emerge, and crawled along the branches ; soon the whole 

 litter followed this example. Sumichrast advised Lucien 

 to clap his hands, and I ordered PEncuerado not to fire 

 at the poor animal. Frightened at the noise, the little ones 

 hastened to their mother, who set up her thin ears and 

 showed us a double row of white teeth. One of the stupid 

 little things, in its haste to reach its asylum, fell down 

 from the tree. In a moment the opossum had jumped 

 down close to it, and turned towards us her threatening 

 jaws ; then, finding all her treasure complete, she disap- 

 peared among the brush-wood. 



" Why didn't you let me shoot at the tU&uache ?" asked 

 PEncuerado. 



" What is the good of killing a poor creature which 

 would be of no use to us ?" 



" You know well enough," replied the Indian, " that this 

 c poor beast ' finds its way into granaries ; that it devours 

 the corn and also fowls, without reckoning the damage 

 made by them in other ways." 



" Yes, that's true enough ; but this animal, at least, is in- 

 nocent of all these misdeeds, for it lives too far from any 

 town." 



This scene had quite delighted Lucien. I acquainted 

 him with the fact that opossums, kangaroos, and several 

 other animals of the kind, the females of which are provid- 

 ed w T ith a pouch to shelter the young ones, are, for this rea- 

 son, called marsupials. 



The opossum is very common in Mexico. Its long, point- 

 ed, and deeply-divided muzzle is armed with fifty-two for- 

 midable teeth, although the animal feeds principally on 



