lly,
have lavished the most poetical names on those jewels of the flying
race. They call them either the "rays" or the "hairs of the sun." Here,
it is "the little king of the flowers;" there, "the celestial flower
that comes in its flight to caress the terrestrial flower." It is again
"the bouquet of jewels, which sparkles in the fire of the day." It can
be believed that their imagination would know how to furnish a new
poetical appellation for each of the one hundred and fifty species
which constitute this marvelous tribe of humming-birds.

Meanwhile, however numerous these humming-birds might be in the forests
of Bolivia, little Jack was obliged to still content himself with
Harris's promise. According to the American, they were still too close
to the coast, and the humming-birds did not like these deserts so near
the ocean. The presence of man did not frighten them at the "hacienda;"
they heard nothing all day but their cry of "teretere" and the murmur
of their wings, similar to that of a spinning-wheel.

"Ah! how I should like to be there!" cried little Jack.

The surest method of getting there--to the "hacienda" of San
Felice--was not to stop on the road. Mrs. Weldon and her companions
only took the time absolutely necessary for repose.

The aspect of the forest already changed. Between the less crowded
trees large clearings opened here and there. The sun, piercing the
green carpet, then showed its structure of red, syenite granite,
similar to slabs of lapis-lazuli. On some heights the sarsaparilla
abounded, a plant with fleshy tubercles, which formed an inextricable
tangle. The forest, with the narrow paths, was better for them.

Before sunset the little troop were about eight miles from the point of
departure. This journey had been made without accident, and even
without great fatigue. It is true, it was the first journey on the
march, and no doubt the following halting places would be rougher.

By a common consent they decided to make a halt at this place. The
question then was, not to establish a real camp, but to simply organize
a resting-place. One man on guard, relieved every two hours, would
suffice to watch during the night, neither the natives nor the deer
being truly formidable.

They found nothing better for shelter than an enormous mango-tree,
whose large branches, very bushy, formed a kind of natural veranda. If
necessary, they could nestle in the branches.

Only, on the arrival of the little