er prevailing in
the coast jungles, the former in the mountain forests. A few of the
first named--the spicy scents--are so peculiar that, once identified,
they can be easily recognized: here, for instance, the effluvium of the
musk lianas, whose flowers diffuse a sort of odorous diapason which
predominates, even through the bouquet-medley of the South Mexican
flora.

As the white streaks in the east assumed a yellowish tint, the paroquets
in the crests of the pino-palms saluted the morning with sudden screams;
the multitudinous voices of a crow-swarm approached from the coast
forests; two and two, and in a series of pairs, the macaws came flying
across the sky; and in our near neighborhood the startling cry of the
_chachalaca_ or jungle-pheasant went up from an hibiscus thicket. Softly
first, then louder and louder, the _calanda_, the mocking-bird of the
tropics, intonated its morning hymn, and the fluting curlew rose from
the grass like a skylark; but a sweeter sound to our ears was the
murmuring of a little brook at the roadside. We had reached the region
of rocks and swift-flowing waters.

Of reptiles, as of Red Republicans, it may be said that they are least
dreaded in the countries where they most abound. While a New England
boarding-school virgin goes into epileptic spasms at the aspect of a
blindworm, the young Mexicanas surround themselves with a variety of
ophidian pets, and view a freckled tree-snake and a gay butterfly with
equal pleasure or equal unconcern. A little barefoot girl that met us on
her way to the spring put her toes caressingly on the smooth hide of a
green-and-white speckled _Vivora mansa_ that wriggled across the road;
and our barelegged portador kicked dozens of good-sized bush-snakes out
of our path after noticing that they frightened our young travelling
companion. More than ninety per cent of all South American snakes are as
harmless as lizards, and the four or five venomous varieties are well
known and easily avoided.

I will here add a word on the dreaded venomous insects of the tropics.
The ant and mosquito plagues of the coast jungles can hardly be
over-estimated, but the virulence of their larger congeners is
frequently and grossly exaggerated. The chief insect-ogres of sensation
romancers and fireside travellers are three: the scorpion, the
tarantula, and the centipede, either of whom can rival the homicidal
prestige of Victor Hugo's octopus. But I may confidently appeal to
the v