d soil. The fruit is said to
be sweet and wholesome."

In a moment, my little active Jack was climbing the rocks to gather some
of these figs; but he had not remarked that they were covered with
thousands of slender thorns, finer than the finest needles, which
terribly wounded his fingers. He returned, weeping bitterly and dancing
with pain. Having rallied him a little for his greediness, I extracted
the thorns, and then showed him how to open the fruit, by first cutting
off the pointed end, as it lay on the ground; into this I fixed a piece
of stick, and then pared it with my knife. The novelty of the expedient
recommended it, and they were soon all engaged eating the fruit, which
they declared was very good.

In the mean time, I saw Ernest examining one of the figs very
attentively. "Oh! papa!" said he, "what a singular sight; the fig is
covered with a small red insect. I cannot shake them off. Can they be
the _Cochineal_?" I recognized at once the precious insect, of which I
explained to my sons the nature and use. "It is with this insect," said
I, "that the beautiful and rich scarlet dye is made. It is found in
America, and the Europeans give its weight in gold for it."

Thus discoursing on the wonders of nature, and the necessity of
increasing our knowledge by observation and study, we arrived at Tent
House, and found it in the same state as we left it.

We all began to collect necessaries. Fritz loaded himself with powder
and shot, I opened the butter-cask, and my wife and little Francis
filled the pot. Ernest and Jack went to try and secure the geese and
ducks; but they had become so wild that it would have been impossible,
if Ernest had not thought of an expedient. He tied pieces of cheese, for
bait, to threads, which he floated on the water. The voracious creatures
immediately swallowed the cheese and were drawn out by the thread. They
were then securely tied, and fastened to the game-bags, to be carried
home on our backs. As the bait could not be recovered, the boys
contented themselves with cutting off the string close to the beak,
leaving them to digest the rest.

Our bags were already loaded with potatoes, but we filled up the spaces
between them with salt; and, having relieved Turk of his armour, we
placed the heaviest on his back. I took the butter-pot; and, after
replacing everything, and closing our tent, we resumed our march, with
our ludicrous incumbrances. The geese and ducks were very noisy in