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Adventures of a Young Naturalist

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Title: Adventures of a Young Naturalist

Author: Lucien Biart

Editor: Parker Gillmore

 
Release date: July 8, 2008 [eBook #26009]
 Most recently updated: January 3, 2021

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26009

Credits: Produced by Julia Miller, Emmy and the Online Distributed
 Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
 produced from images generously made available by The
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Produced by Julia Miller, Emmy and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE.]

ADVENTURES

OF

A YOUNG NATURALIST.

BY

LUCIEN BIART.

 EDITED AND ADAPTED BY
 PARKER GILLMORE,
 AUTHOR OF "ALL ROUND THE WORLD," "GUN, ROD, AND SADDLE," "ACCESSIBLE
 FIELD SPORTS," ETC.

 _WITH ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS._

[Illustration]

 NEW YORK:
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
 FRANKLIN SQUARE.
 1871.

PREFACE.

There is no country on the face of the earth that possesses greater
interest in the eyes of the scientific or travelled than Mexico, the
scene where the adventures so graphically and clearly narrated in this
volume transpired: nor is this partiality to be wondered at when we
recall to memory what a lavish hand Nature has subtended to her.

Although several of our most celebrated naturalists have climbed its
lofty volcanic mountains, explored its lagoons and giant rivers, and
traversed its immense forests, still, from the vast extent of that
country and variety of climate--caused by difference of elevation--much
yet remains to be done ere the public become thoroughly conversant with
its arboreal and zoological productions.

The elephant, hippopotamus, lion, and tiger, the largest and most
formidable of the terrestrial mammals of the Old World, are not here to
be found; but their places are well supplied by the swamp-loving tapir,
the voracious alligator, the stealthy puma, and the blood-thirsty
jaguar, all well worthy of the sportsman's rifle, or of the
snake-visioned native warrior's weapons--for the power of destruction in
these animals during life is great, while after death they either
furnish valuable skins or wholesome food. Moreover, here the wolf awakes
the reverberating echoes of the forest with its dismal howl; the
raccoon, opossum, and squirrel pass their lives in sportive gambols; the
wild and the ocellated turkeys strut about, pompous in manner, as if
conscious of their handsome plumage, while the timid deer and
shaggy-coated bison roam over prairies or through woodland glades, as
yet unacquainted with the report of the white man's destructive
fire-arms.

Can it, therefore, be surprising that our little hero should have craved
to be permitted to have a sight of this new land, so rich in the
prospect of adventure? How he behaved himself throughout the numerous
ordeals to which he was submitted, suffice it for me to say that his
conduct was worthy of the representative of any nationality, and such as
was calculated to make all parents proud of their offspring; for whether
suffering from thirst or hunger, being persecuted by noxious insects,
straying in the woods, even when within reach of the fiercest carnivora
or in the presence of the deadliest reptiles, he never for a moment
hesitated in performing his seniors' instructions, lost his courage, or,
better still, an opportunity of improving his mind.

That the young English reader may benefit as much by the perusal of this
work as Master Lucien, otherwise "Sunbeam," did by his journey through
the Cordilleras of Mexico, and that they may enjoy the information
herein imparted upon the wonderful works of the Creator, is the sincere
wish of

 THE EDITOR.

[Illustration: Decoration]

CONTENTS.

 INTRODUCTION Page 13

 CHAPTER I.

 Who we are.--Gringalet.--Sunrise.--The
 Sugar-cane.--A Halt. 20

 CHAPTER II.

 Sugar.--Gringalet in the Molasses
 Tank.--L'Encuerado's obstinate Idea.--An Indian
 Supper. 34

 CHAPTER III.

 Waking up in the Morning.--The pigmy World of
 Lilliput.--L'Encuerado and the Bottles.--Massacre
 of Thistles.--The Charcoal-burning Indians. 46

 CHAPTER IV.

 A difficult Ascent.--The Goat.--The Indian
 Girls.--The Tobacco-plant.--The
 Bull-fight.--Game.--Lucien's Gun.--Our Entry into
 the Wilderness. 61

 CHAPTER V.

 The great Forest.--Crows.--The first Bivouac.--The
 Squirrel-hunt.--Our young Guide.--The Chant in the
 Desert. 76

 CHAPTER VI.

 Coffee.--Turpentine.--Couroucous.--Pine-needles.--Three
 Volcanoes in sight at once.--The Carabus
 Family.--Scorpions.--Salamanders.--A midnight
 Disturbance. 89

 CHAPTER VII.

 The Cats'-eyes Pomade.--Armadillo.--Lucien and the
 cruel Fern.--The fallen Mountain.--The
 Woodpecker.--The Basilisk.--L'Encuerado's fresh
 Idea. 104

 CHAPTER VIII.

 A Vulture's Feast.--Dragon's Blood.--A Coral
 Serpent.--The Owl.--Mexican Moles.--Toucans.--The
 Scolopacidæ.--L'Encuerado turned Tailor.--Sunset. 119

 CHAPTER IX.

 The South Wind.--The Hurricane.--A fearful
 Night.--The uprooted Giant.--The
 Sarsaparilla-plant.--Gringalet discovers a
 Spring.--Our Bivouac. 135

 CHAPTER X.

 The Rabbit.--Wild Potatoes.--A difficult Path.--An
 extinct Crater.--Hoar-frost.--The Torrent.--The
 Fawn.--The Tettigones.--Dragon-flies. 148

 CHAPTER XI.

 A blue Lizard.--The Guava-tree.--A Cataract.--Nest
 of yellow Serpents.--A vegetable Helmet.--The
 Kingfisher.--Hunting Water-fleas.--The Tadpole.--A
 Collection of Water-bugs. 164

 CHAPTER XII.

 A Relation of Gringalet.--Our four-footed
 Guide.--A Review of our Party.--The
 Alligator-tortoise.--The Pheasants.--The
 Magnolia.--The Nutmeg-tree.--The Blue-plant.--The
 Caterpillar. 182

 CHAPTER XIII.

 The Sensitive-plant.--Gringalet and the
 Porcupine.--The Mexican Chameleon.--The Kite and
 the Falcon.--An amphisbæna Snake.--A Council of
 Turkeys. 196

 CHAPTER XIV.

 The Meteor.--God Almighty's Lanterns.--The
 Skunk.--The Jalap plant.--An aerial Journey.--The
 Orchids.--Bivouac in the Mouth of a
 Cave.--Gringalet and the Beetles.--A White Ants'
 Nest. 211

 CHAPTER XV.

 Our Substitutes for Lamps.--First Glance into the
 Cave.--The Elaterides.--The Gothic
 Hall.--Stalagmites and Stalactites.--A
 Chichiquimec Cemetery.--The "Tree of St.
 Ignatius."--The Opossum and its little ones. 235

 CHAPTER XVI.

 The Earth-nuts.--A Wil

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