390 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



hospitable forest which we had entered, instead of waiting 

 until hunger and thirst imperiously cried — Onward ! when 

 perhaps we might be too exhausted to move. 



The ground became undulating, and I hastened forward, 

 thinking to meet with what we wished for, when a glade, 

 which enabled us to catch a glimpse of the sun, enlivened 

 us a little. Here there was some grass, and a few shrubs 

 and creepers. I called Lucien to show him what to us was 

 a new plant, the Bromelia pinguin of botanists. 



Its ripe pink fruit was symmetrically placed in a circle 

 of green leaves. Lucien, kneeling down, tried to pluck 

 them. 



" Pull one from the middle, Chanito," cried l'Encuerado ; 

 " that's the only way to get them." 



The boy seized the centre berry, which came out, and, like 

 the stones of an arch when the key-stone is taken out, all the 

 cones fell. Under their thick husk there was a white, acid, 

 melting pulp, well adapted to quench the thirst ; but I rec- 

 ommended Lucien not to eat more than two or three of 

 them. A second clump, a little farther on, enabled us to 

 gather a good stock of them. Providence could not have 

 placed in our path a more valuable plant, for the hundreds 

 of cones which we had gathered would enable us to brave 

 the necessities of thirst for two or three days. We now 

 walked on at a quicker pace, and Lucien, a little refreshed, 

 kept his place courageously by my side. 



" Well !" said I, " you must confess now that virgin for- 

 ests may have something good in them. How do you like 

 the timbirichis ?" 



" They are excellent ; what family do they belong to ?" 



"They are akin to the pine-apples, and therefore belong 

 to the bromelacece" 



"But the pine-apple is a large fruit, which grows simply 

 on its stalk." 



