THE ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG NATURALIST. 311 



" It is. the dew, Chanito ; it is almost as abundant as the 

 night dews in the Terre-Chaude" 



" Are not morning and night dews the same thing ?" 



" Not exactly," I replied ; " the morning dew is general- 

 ly of a beneficial nature ; but the Mexicans dread the other, 

 which falls after sunset, and is said to be productive of 

 fever." 



" But from whence does all this moisture come ?" 



" From the air, which always contains a certain quantity, 

 some of which it deposits on the ground, on stones and* 

 plants, as they become cool "by radiation." 



Just at this moment our attention was attracted by the 

 first ray of the sun, which, piercing through a light cloud, 

 shot across the plain like a bright arrow. The horizon, 

 which had been visible, was now obscured by a mist, which 

 gradually rolled towards us. By degrees, however, it drew 

 off, and the trees a short distance away showed their round- 

 ed tops; while wide breaks opened here and there in the 

 semi-transparent veil, and vanished as quickly as they had 

 arisen. 



The telescope was passed from hand to hand, and each 

 tried to discover if there was a hut where the glimmering 

 fire had been descried the night before. The search was in 

 vain ; the reflection of the sun's rays quite dazzled us, and 

 restricted the prospect ; but, once in the right course, we 

 might advance without fear of missing our point, and, ac- 

 cording to our calculations, we would meet with habitations 

 the next day or the following. 



Gringalet's tongue hung out of his mouth ; he found the 

 journey over the nitrous soil very irksome, and the scanty 

 leaves of the mimosa failed to screen him from the sun. 

 What a contrast it was to the pleasant regions we had 

 hitherto travelled through ! 



" Your country, after all, is not so nice an one as mine," 

 said Lucien, addressing PEncuerado. 



