cts for sublime contemplation--objects far
above the reach of mortal man, and that can never be rendered common by
his contact. Do they not seem so?'

"We had now reached the foot of the mountain, and halting near the
entrance of the ravine, we loosed Pompo from his cart, and rested
ourselves on the banks of the little stream. After a while we commenced
ascending up into the defile in search of the pinons. As we advanced,
Mary pointed out the trees which she had noticed on a former occasion.
They appeared of a light green colour, much lighter than others that
grew near them. We made towards one which stood apart, and was most
accessible to us. This we hoped might prove to be the bread-pine tree;
and we approached it with feelings of anxiety and expectation.

"In a short time we were under its branches; and if we had had no other
test than what we saw there, combined with the delicious fragrance of
the tree, we could have told that it could be no other than the pinon.
The ground was covered with cones, each of them about an inch and a half
in length; but on examining them, we found them all broken open and the
seed extracted. Some animal had been there before us, and relished
their contents--thus affording a proof that they were good to eat.
There were still many of the cones hanging on the tree; and it was not
long until we had split some of them open and tasted their ripe seeds.

"`It is it!' cried my wife, clapping her hands with delight. `It is the
nut-pine! This will serve for bread until we can grow our wheat and
corn. Come, let us gather them,' added she, pointing to a large grove
of the same trees that grew at a short distance; and we all hurried to
the grove, and commenced shaking down the cones and gathering them into
heaps.

"We had soon collected as many as we wanted, and in the evening we
returned to the valley, with our little cart half-full of pine-nuts. On
reaching home, some of them were parched and pounded into a sort of
coarse meal; and that night, for the first time during many weeks, we
had cakes to our supper.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

THE MENAGERIE, AVIARY, AND BOTANIC GARDEN.

"We were busy of course every day, as we had plenty of work to do. We
laid a floor in our cabin, and fenced a couple of fields--one to plant
our corn in, and the other to keep Pompo from straying off into the
woods, and meeting with some animal that might feel inclined to devour
him. We also succeeded i