Part 26 (2/2)
”What is it?” he inquired, with half-opened eyes ”Is italready?”
”The sun is up Rouse, my master! It is time ere on the road,”
replied the Indian
”I feel very drowsy--I am heavy--I can scarce keep my eyes open What can be the cause of this?”
”The poison-trees, master,” answered Guapo
The answer seemed to impress Don Pablo He made a violent effort, and rose to his feet When up he could scarcely stand He felt as though he had sed a powerful opiate
”It ood Guapo Perhaps there is some truth in what you have said O, heavens!” exclai hiht had fully awakened Don Pablo; and Guapo and he proceeded at once to arouse the others, which they effected afterAll were still heavy with sleep, and felt as did Don Pablo himself
”Surely there is some narcotic power in the aroma of these trees,”
one! We er, else what Guapo has said may prove too true
Saddle up--we must eat our breakfasts farther on To the road!--to the road!”
Guapo soon had the horses ready, and all hurried fro up the mountain-path Even the anih they, too, had been under the influence of some soporific But the pure cold air of the radually recovered, and after cooking so their breakfast upon these, they again felt light and fresh, and pursued their journey with renewed vigour
The road kept on up the ravine, and in some places the banks rose almost perpendicularly fro on both sides vast walls of black porphyry--for this is the principal rock coiant chain of the Andes Above their heads screae of the species _Conurus rupicola_, whichplaces, and dwell upon these rocky cliffs This is a singular fact, as all other parrots known are dwellers a trees and are found in the forest at all tie from place to place
But even the squirrel, which is an ani in tree-life, has its representative in several species of ground-squirrels, that never ascend a tree; and, a chimpanzee No doubt squirrels or monkeys of any kind, transported to an open or treeless country, would soon habituate themselves to their new situation,--for Nature affords many illustrations of this power of adaptation on the part of her creatures
It was near sunset when our travellers reached the highest point of their route, nearly 14,000 feet above the level of the sea! Here they eed upon an open plain which stretched far before theht of many thousand feet from the level of the plain itself So of eternal snohich, as the evening sun glanced upon it, exhibited the old
The plain looked bleak and barren, and the cold which our travellers now felt added to the desolateness of the scene No trees were in sight Dry yellow grass covered the ground, and the rocks stood out naked and shaggy They had reached one of those elevated tables of the Andes known as the _Puna_
These singular tracts elevated above the level of cultivation are almost uninhabited Their only inhabitants are a few poor Indians, who are employed by the rich proprietors of the lower valleys as shepherds; for upon these cold uplands thrive sheep, and cattle, and llah this wild region, however, you le one of the wretched and isolated inhabitants atch over these flocks and herds
On reaching the Puna, our party had made their day's journey, and would have halted The lla and uttering their strange booh a descendant of the Incas, he had originally coreat forest beyond the eastern slope of the Andes, where many of the Peruvian Indians had retired after the cruel massacres of Pizarro He now remembered, that not far from where they were, was a shepherd's hut, and that the shepherd himself was an old friend of his
That would be the place to stop for the night; and, by Guapo's advice, Don Pablo resolved to continue on to the hut
Guapo fell upon his knees before the llareat variety of endearing expressions, he at last coaxed these ani would not e an inch The leader, as a fine large anith stepped boldly out; and the other, encouraged by the sound of the small bells that tinkled around the head of the leader, followed after, and so the travellers moved on
”Come, papa!” cried Leon; ”you are tired yourself--mount this horse--I can walk a bit:” at the sa himself from the back of the horse, and led hi the bridle to the latter, he struck off along the plain, following Guapo and his llamas
The road skirted round the rocks, where theone, for the hut of which Guapo spoke became visible at less than a quarter of ahut it was--more like an ill-built stack of bean-straw than a house It had been built in the following e stones had been laid, then a row of turf, then another tier of stones, and so on, until the circular wall had reached the height of about four or five feet, the diaht or nine On the top of the wall a number of poles had been set, so as to ether These poles were nothing else than the long flower-stalks of the _th grew in the vicinity These poles served for rafters, and across them laths had been laid, andcoarse Puna grass, which was tied in its place by grass ropes that were stretched from side to side over the top This was the hut of Guapo's friend, and siion of the Puna A door was left in the side, not over two feet high, so that it was necessary to crawl upon the hands and knees before any one could reach the interior
As our travellers approached, they saw that the entrance was closed by an ox-hide which covered the whole of the opening
Whether the shepherd was at hoot near to the house, Guapo suggested that Don Pablo should disestion was s--of which creatures Guapo had a previous knowledge These dogs, known by the nas, are, perhaps, the fiercest animals of their species