orest by the cries of
five or six _toucans_, and again we set off in chase. These birds are
extremely suspicious, and their capricious flight almost baffles
pursuit. I succeeded, however, in killing one; the others flew off,
raising cries of anger.

"How can they bear the weight of such an enormous beak?" asked Lucien,
who had run to pick up the bird, and was struck with admiration at its
beautiful green and yellow plumage.

"Nature has made provision for that: the enormous beak, which seems so
heavy, is composed of a very light porous substance."

"Then it can not eat any thing hard?"

"No; its flexible beak could not crush any unyielding substance, and it
feeds on nothing but soft fruits; and even these it breaks up
awkwardly. If we could have got near them, you would have seen them
plucking berries and tossing them in the air, so as to catch them in
their immense jaws."

"What good is its great mouth?"

"I can't say; for the naturalists, who have been as much puzzled as you
are by this peculiarity, have been unable to explain it."

"Then I am more learned than they are," said l'Encuerado, with a
magisterial air.

"Do you know, then, why toucans have such exaggerated beaks?"

"Because they have been made by a wise Creator," replied the Indian.

"No doubt about that," remarked Sumichrast, smiling; "but the point is,
why they were made so."

"Because their beak, calcined and reduced to powder, is the only
efficacious remedy for epilepsy. Toucans are very scarce birds, and if
their beaks were no larger than those of other birds of their size, this
medicine could never be obtained in sufficient quantities."

L'Encuerado's explanation was perhaps as good as our uncertainty. I
remember that the Indians do, in fact, make a great mystery of a powder
against epilepsy, and that a toucan's head may often be noticed hanging
up to the wall of a hut, as a preservative against St. Vitus' dance.

Instead of resting, Lucien prowled about in every direction, breaking
away bark, and lifting stones with all the ardor of a neophyte in
entomology. Since meeting with the coral-serpent, he took precautions
which gave me confidence; for it is quite uncertain how a reptile or any
other creature may behave when it is disturbed. The child suddenly
called out to me; he had just discovered a nest of _scolopendrae_,
commonly called centipedes, and he was afraid to touch them. The
centipedes, surprised at being disturbed, rolled them