explanation of this perpetual shibboleth. Half by signs, half in the
polyglot jargon which he had been employing with the Siriniris, Garcia
managed to understand that the word in question was the name of their
village, situated at a small distance and in a direction which they
indicated. In this retreat, they said, no inhabitants remained but
women, children and old men, the rest of the braves being absent on
a chase. They proposed a visit to their capital, where the strangers,
they said, honored and cherished by the tribe, might pass many
enviable days.

The proposed excursion, which would cause a loss of considerable time
and a deflection from the intended route, was declined in courteous
terms by Marcoy through the interpretation of Pepe Garcia. Among
civilized folk this urbane refusal would have sufficed, but the
savages, taking such a reply as a challenge to verbal warfare,
returned to the charge with increased tenacity. It were hard to say
what natural logic they put in practice or what sylvan persuasions
they wrought by, but their peculiar mode of stroking the white men's
backs with their hands, and the softer and still softer inflections
which they introduced into their voices, would have melted hearts of
marble. In brief, the civilized portion adopted the more weakly part
and allowed themselves to be led by the savage portion.

The colonel and Pepe Garcia were still more easily persuaded than Mr.
Marcoy, and only awaited his adhesion. When it was finally announced
the Siriniris renewed their gambols and uttered shouts of delight.
They then took the head of the excursion. A singularity in their
guides, which quickly attracted the notice of the explorers, was the
perfect indifference with which they took either the clearings or the
thickets in their path. Where the strangers were afraid of tearing
their garments, these unprotected savages had no care whatever for
their skins. It is true that their ingenuity in gliding through the
labyrinth resembled magic. However the forest might bristle with
undergrowth, they never thought of breaking down obstacles or of
cutting them, as the equally practiced Bolivians did, with a knife.
They contented themselves with putting aside with one hand the tufts
of foliage as if they had been curtains or draperies, and that with an
easy decision of gesture and an elegance of attitude which are hardly
found outside of certain natural tribes.

The city of Huatinmio proved to be a g