, l'Encuerado had cut down three palm-trees and
hollowed out the lower part of the trunks, in order to collect their
sweet sap. He also wove a sort of palisade of creepers round several
thick stakes, in which we could sleep without fear of surprise. In a
hole near the top of one of the palm-trees, Lucien spied out a parrot's
nest, and had taken possession of two young birds, red, green, and
yellow in color, which seemed to adapt themselves wonderfully to the
attentions lavished upon them by the boy.

"What are you going to do with these poor orphans?" I asked.

"I am going to take them home to my brother and sister. L'Encuerado says
that they would perch on the edge of his load."

"How shall you feed them?"

"With fruit, and sometimes with meat. M. Sumichrast said yesterday that
they would eat any thing that was given to them. I have already named
them 'Verdet' and 'Janet.'"

"They will be sure to get within reach of Gringalet; are you sure that
he will leave them alone?"

"L'Encuerado has already given him a lecture about it."

"Still I am very much afraid that 'Verdet' and 'Janet' will come to an
untimely end."

While we were resting, Lucien and his friend went off to examine a
caoutchouc-tree. The boy came back much disappointed.

"Your India-rubber-tree isn't worth much," said he to Sumichrast,
showing him a thick white liquid, which he had just collected.

"And pray why not?"

"Because India-rubber ought to be black and dry."

"It will acquire these qualities as it grows older. The India-rubber
oozes from the tree in the form of a milky liquid, like that with which
you are now smearing your fingers."

About three o'clock, when the sun was shining perpendicularly down upon
us, I conducted my companions through the thickets, in order to explore
the course of the river. Very soon we were obliged to cut our way with
our _machetes_, and several reptiles made off before our approach.
Gradually, as we advanced, the bank became covered with swamp ivy,
bignonias, and cedar-trees, till we at last came out on a sandy shore,
where five or six turtles were apparently asleep. In spite of all our
exertions, the creatures reached the stream. L'Encuerado discovered two
little heaps of sand, one of which was still unfinished, and contained
twenty eggs about as big as chestnuts, and covered with a whitish skin.
A little farther on, Lucien caught a small red turtle, the size of a
crown-piece. On hearing from l'Encuerad