which,filling our ears and irritating our eyes, made us sneeze and coughcontinuously, we beat a hasty retreat, entirely forgetting the duck wehad come to seek. Not until we had got clear of the fusillade directedagainst us by the fungi, did we stop in our flight, when, clearing thedust from our eyes, and shaking it off from our heads and clothes,Lejoillie burst into a fit of laughter.
"You will like to understand how this happened, my young friend," heobserved. "Possibly others will be incredulous when they hear of ouradventure. These mushrooms, like other vegetables, have the power ofsuddenly bursting without being touched, Nature having provided themwith this means of spreading their seed over a wide extent of ground.The red dust which so disagreeably filled our eyes is composed ofimperceptible spores, each atom containing a germ. The shock producedwhen we fell caused the explosion of some of the largest of these, andthey set all the others agoing, though who would have believed that twobrave hunters could be put to flight by mushrooms!"
Comical as was the adventure, the result to us was far from pleasant,for we both had our faces and hands covered with pimples, while it wassome time before we ceased coughing and spluttering from the quantitywhich had got down our throats; indeed, the mushroom germs hadcompletely poisoned us. We were still more vexed at the thought oflosing the bird after encountering so much annoyance, when Caesar, whohad followed us, appeared, bringing it in his mouth. Although we didnot venture back again into the bottom of the hummock, we succeeded inkilling a couple of fat gobblers, which amply supplied us all withsupper and breakfast the next morning.
Just outside the hummock was a cabbage-palm, which, as I have said,abounds in Florida. It rose in straight and graceful grandeur to theheight of a hundred feet without a branch, then burst into a mass ofdark-green, fan-shaped leaves. In the centre of this mass grows thefar-famed cabbage, which is a tender white shoot, protected by numerousfibrous folds. We were wishing for some vegetable, when Jup undertookto obtain a cabbage. Fastening a belt round his waist and the trunk ofthe tree, he worked himself up to the summit, when, drawing his knifefrom his belt, he cut out the vegetable. He then chopped off a numberof the large leaves from the summit for the purpose of forming apalmetto hut, which might afford us shelter. We cooked the cabbage,though it is often eaten raw, and agreed that it resembled a Spanishchestnut in taste. Carlos told us that the tree would die inconsequence of having the cabbage cut out, and Jup confirmed thestatement.
Our huts were of the very simplest description. Fixing in two uprights,we secured a horizontal pole between them at their tops; and from thispole we suspended the enormous cabbage-palm leaves, stretching them outat the bottom, thus forming a thatched roof impervious to rain or sun.Where cabbage-palms grow, the hunter, as I have shown, can in a fewminutes form a very efficient hut, capable of holding two or threepeople.
Numerous birds, inhabitants of the trees near our camp, amused us duringthe evening by their varied notes. One which we watched was of agraceful form, with a long fine beak, its plumage being grey-brown aboveand white beneath. Though larger than the nightingale, to which it hasoften been compared, it has a superior and more varied voice, but lacksthat sweetness of expression and melancholy charm which have made thereputation of the plaintive Philomel. It has, however, a song of itsown, composed of a dozen syllables, clear, sonorous, and harmonious,which runs over an extensive scale. At first, it entertained us withits own song, but in a short time began imitating those of other birds,which it did to perfection; indeed, Jup told us, and Carlos corroboratedthe statement, that it can imitate the human voice, as well as thehissing of serpents, the roar of alligators, the gobbling of turkeys,and the cry of all other birds. Lejoillie tried it by whistling a tune,when the bird imitated him, introducing a number of variations. Themocking-bird, for such it was, afforded us infinite amusement during theevening.
Another bird also made its appearance, called the red orpheus. It had areddish-brown plumage, with a fawn-coloured breast spotted with black.It was about the same size as the mocking-bird, its note being verysimilar to that of the European blackbird, but more sonorous andmelodious, and superior in some respects to that of the mocking-bird.It is of an equally graceful form, and has the same long fine beak. Wefound numbers of them in the forest among the cedars and myrtles, whosefruit they eat, and where also they chase various winged insects. Boththese birds build their nests six or seven feet above the ground, onthorny bushes, or in wild orange trees. The nests are composed of thedowny mosses of plants fastened together with the fibres of flax. Theeggs of the mocking-bird are blue with brown spots; those of the orpheusare of a beautiful azure tint.
Scarcely had we turned in to our leaf-covered huts when I felt somecreatures crawling over me. I jumped up, and running to the fire, shookoff two or three horrid-looking spiders. My exclamations aroused mycompanions, and they likewise found several of the same spiders crawlingover them. Tim cried out that he had been bitten, and that he felt anextraordinary numbness in the limb. Lejoillie said immediatelyafterwards that he also had suffered; and Jup, on seeing the creatures,declared that they were the most venomous of spiders, and warned us thatif we went to sleep they might actually bite us to death. Lejoillierecollected having heard of the species, which is called thesleeping-spider. We accordingly, making up our fire, gathered closelyround it, hoping that the creatures would not approach its flames. Onexamining the ground in the neighbourhood, we found a number of smallholes, out of which the spiders were creeping in search of prey; but, aswe had hoped, they did not venture close enough to the fire to reach us.We spent an uncomfortable night, and I was glad when it came to my turnto walk sentry. As I moved about I kept a watch on my feet, lest any ofthe venomous insects should climb up my legs. The ground appearedliterally swarming with them. In the morning, when we came to examineit, we found that the whole bank was mined below with the galleries ofthousands of these sleeping-spiders. So poisonous is their bite that itsometimes causes a lethargy, during which the person bitten passes fromsleep to death. During the day these insects stop up their holes withsand, and only come out in the night. A dark-red line runs down theirback, and they have flat heads. To struggle against these venomouscreatures was impossible; it would have been more easy to contend with apack of wolves, or any other wild beasts. The instinct of my doginduced him to crawl close up to the fire, where he remained all nightso near to it that he nearly burned off his coat.
At daybreak I proposed to start off, to be at once free from the dangersof the neighbourhood. But Jup observed, "No fear now, massa; de spidersall gone to bed."
Such was found to be the case, as they are strictly nocturnal hunters,and keep their holes closely shut during the day-time. We had thereforeno longer any fear of being bitten, and were able to take our breakfastat our leisure. As soon as possible, however, after breakfast, we wereagain on the move.
We had much the same description of country to pass through as on theprevious day--mostly open prairie, with pine-barrens and occasionalhummocks. I cannot describe each day of our journey. In the earlymorning we were aroused half an hour before sunrise by a wonderfulchorus of birds and insects, the mocking-bird and cat-bird making thegreatest noise. At that time the inhabitants of the woods seemed toawaken to active life as suddenly as day succeeds the night, and nightthe day, in those Southern latitudes. The deep-sounding whoops of thesand-hill cranes--the cries of herons, bitterns, and ibis--the gobblesof turkeys--the confused quacking of flocks of ducks--the chattering ofpelicans--the melodious voices of thousands of song-birds--the hum ofmillions of insects,--all combined to create a volume of sound whicheffectually banished sleep. As the sun rose above the summits of thetrees, the various sounds gradually decreased, and during the heat ofmid-day all seemed hushed in the stillness of death. As eveningapproached, once more the feathered songsters suddenly burst forth; thenfor a short time there would be silence; when again, towards midnight,the hootings and shrieks of numerous night-birds, and the more savagecries and hideous voices of all
igators, wolves, and ocelots, would breakour slumbers.
One evening we were nearly losing our black attendant, who not only hadproved himself an intelligent guide, but was ready to serve us in everyway he could. We had just encamped, when a short distance off anenormous eagle rose from a stunted tree on the borders of a neighbouringhummock. Lejoillie was anxious to obtain its eggs, or one of the youngbirds should they be hatched; and Jup immediately volunteered to climbup and procure one or the other. Supposing that the eagle had flown toa distance, Jup advanced to the tree, leaving his axe and knife, whichhe had been using, behind him on the ground. Some thick bark, and a fewbranches and twigs projecting from the trunk, enabled him to make hisway up the tree in a manner none of us could imitate.
Lejoillie was engaged at the time in skinning a bird he had just beforeshot, and we were all busy in preparing the camp, when we heard Jupshriek out. He had ample reason for doing so. He had
In the Wilds of Florida: A Tale of Warfare and Hunting Page 21
