The Forest Exiles, Or, the Perils of a Peruvian Family Amid the Wilds Of
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• ''A A"N I X If THE F0KE3T EXILES. THE FOREST EXILES; OK, TBS PERILS OF A PERUVIAN FAMILY AMID THE WILDS OF THE AMAZON. BT CAPTAIN MAYNE REID, Author of " The Boy Hunters," "The Yovsa Votaoeuki " The Desert Home," etc. , TRUTH; .TTfZSLVS 1LLUS TiJATlONS. BOSTON: TICKNOR AND FIELDS. M DCCC LXVIII. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by TICKNOR AND FIELDS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts ' « * t « l c 18 tf CONTENTS. OHAFTKB **• L THE BIGGEST WOOD IN THE WOELD, . 7 IL THE REFUGEES, * III. THE POISON TREES, 24 IV. THE SUPPER OF GUAPO, ..... 32 38 V. THE PUNA, . VI. THE WILD BULL OF THE PUNA, ... 46 VIL THE "VAQUERO," 53 VTU. LAMAS, ALPACOS, VICUNAS, AND GUANA- COS, & 66 IX. A VICUNA HUNT, . .... 73 X CAPTURING A CONDOR, . 77 XL THE PERILS OF A PERUVIAN ROAD, . 84 XIL ENCOUNTER UPON A CLIFF, . XIII. THE LONE CROSS IN THE FOREST, . 90 XIV. THE DESERTED MISSION, 99 XV. THE GUACO AND THE CORAL SNAKE, . 104 XVL THE PALM WOODS 119 XVII. A HOUSE OF PALMS, 118 XVUL TRACKING THE TAPIR, .... 124 XIX THE POISONED ARROWS, .... 134 145 XX. THE MILK TREE, .... XXI. THE CANNIBAL FISH AND THE GYMNOTUS, 152 XXIL THE CINCHONA TREES, 160 (t) ivrt.2543 6 CONTENTS. CHAPTER TAQ* XXIIL A PAIR OF SLOW GOERS, 166 XXIV. THE BARK HUNTERS, 179 XXV. THE PUMA AND THE GREAT ANT BEAR, 178 XXVI. ATTACK OF THE WHITE ANTS, ... 186 XXVIL THE ANT LION, 192 XXVHI. THE TATOU-POYOU AND THE DEER CAR- CASS, 200 XXIX. AN ARMADILLO HUNT, ... 205 XXX. THE OCELOT, 211 XXXI. A FAMILY OF JAGUARS, 221 XXXII. THE RAFT, 229 XXXIII. THE GUARDIAN BROTHER, .... 237 XXXIV. THE VAMPIRE, 243 XXXV. THE MARIMONDAS, 251 XXXVI. THE MONKEY MOTHER, ... 262 XXXVII. AN UNEXPECTED GUEST, .... 268 XXXVIII. THE CROCODILE AND CAPIVARAS, . 275 XXXIX. FIGHT OF THE JAGUAR AND CROCODILE, 281 XL. ADVENTURE WITH AN ANACONDA, . 287 XLI. A BATCH OF CURIOUS TREES, . 295 XLII. THE FOREST FESTIVAL, 302 XLHL ACRES OF EGGS, 310 XLIV. A FIGHT BETWEEN TWO VERY SCALY CREATURES, 318 XLV. A PAIR OF VALIANT VULTURES, . 326 XLVL THE «GAPO," 332 XLVII. THE ARAGUATOES, 337 XLVIII BRIDGING AN IGARIPE, 343 TT/TY. THE MANATI, 348 L, THE CLOSING CHAPTER, .... 356 THE FOREST EXILES. CHAPTER I. THE BIGGEST WOOD IN THE WORLD. Boy reader, I am told that you are not tired of my company. Is this true ? " Quite true, dear captain — quite true." That is your reply. You speak sincerely ? I be- lieve you do. In return, believe me when I tell you I am not tired of yours ; and the best proof I can give is, that I have come once more to seek you. I have come to solicit the pleasure of your company, not to an evening party, nor to a ball, nor to the Grand Opera, nor to the Crystal Palace, nor yet to the Zo- ological Gardens of Regent's Park — no, but to the great zoological garden of Nature. I have come to ask you to accompany me on another "campaign" — another " grand journey " through the fields of science and adventure. Will you go ? " Most willingly, with you, dear captain, any where." Come with me, then. (7) 8 THE BIGGEST WOOD IN THE T\ ORLD. Again we turn our faces westward ; again we cross the blue and billowy Atlantic ; again we seek the shores of the noble continent of America. u " What ! to America again ? Ha ! that is a large continent, and you need not fear tbat "I am going ';tc take you over old ground. ', No, fear not that. New' scenes await us — a new fixi.ma, a &s$»flor&t— I might almost say a new earth and a new sky. You shall have variety, I promise you — a perfect contrast to the scenes of our last journey. Then, you remember, we turned our faces to the cold and icy north ; now our path lies through the hot and sunny south. Then we lived in a log hut, and closed every cranny to keep out the cold ; now, :in our cottage of palms and cane, we shall be but too glad to let the breeze play through the open walls. Then we wrapped our bodies in thick furs ; now we shall be content with the lightest garments. Then we were bitten by the frost ; now we shall be bitten by sand flies, and mosquitoes, and bats, and snakes, and scorpions^ and spiders, and stung by wasps, and centipedes, and great red ants. Trust me, you shall have a change. Perhaps you do not contemplate such a change with any very lively feelings of pleasure. Come, do not be alarmed at the snakes, and scorpions, and centipedes. We shall find a cure for every bite — an antidote for every bane. Our new journey shall have its pleasures and ad- vantages. Remember how of old we shivered as we slept, coiled up in the corner of our dark log hut and THE BIGGEST WOOD IN THE WORLD. 9 smothered in skins ; now we shall swing lightly in our netted hammocks under the gossamer leaves of the palm tree or the feathery frondage of the ferns. Then we gazed upon leaden skies, and at night looked upon the cold constellation of the Northern Bear ; now we shall have over us an azure canopy, and shall nightly behold the sparkling glories of tha Southern Cross, still shining as bright as when Paul and his little Virginie with loving eyes gazed upon it from their island home. In our last journey we toiled over bleak and barren wastes, across frozen lakes, and marshes, and rivers ; now we shall pass under the shadows of virgin forests, and float lightly upon the bosom of broad, majestic streams, whose shores echo with the voices of living Nature. Hitherto our travels have been upon the wide, open prairie, the trackless plain of sand, the frozen lake, the thin, scattering woods of the north, or the treeless, snow-clad " Barrens." Now we are about to enter a great forest — a forest where the leaves never fade, where the flowers are always in bloom — a foresi where the woodman's axe has not yet echoed where the colonist has hardly hewed out a single clearing — a vast primeval forest, the largest in the world. How large, do you ask ? I can hardly tell you. Are you thinking of Epping, or the New Forest? True, these are large woods, and have been larger at one time ; but if you draw your ideas of a great forest from either of these you must prepare yourself for a startling announcement ; and that is, that the 10 THE BIGGEST WOOD IN THE WOR^t). forest through which I am gomg to take you is as big as all Europe ! There is one place where a straight line might be drawn across this forest that would measure the enormous length of two thousand it six hundred miles ; and there is a point in from which a circle might be described with a diameter of more than a thousand miles, and the whole area in- cluded within this vast circumference would be found covered with an unbroken forest. I need scarce tell you what forest I allude to ; for there is none other in the world of such dimensions — none to compare with that vast, trackless forest that covers the valley of the mighty Amazon. And what shall we -see in travelling through this tree-covered expanse? Many a strange form of life, both vegetable and animal. We shall see the giant 44 ceiba " tree, and the " zamang," and the " caoba," twined by huge parasites almost as thick as their own trunks, and looking as though they embraced but to " fruits crush them ; the juvia," with its globe-shaped " as large as the human head : the cow tree," with " its abundant fountains of rich milk ; the seringa," with its valuable gum ; the caoutchouc of commerce ; the " cinchona," with its fever-killing bark ; the curious " volador," with its winged seeds ; the wild indigo ; and the arnatto. We shall see palms of many species ; some with trunks smooth and cylin- drical — others covered with thorns, sharp and thick- ly set; some with broad, entire leaves — others with fronds pinnate and feathery, and still others whose leaves are of the shape of a fan ; some rising like THE BIGGEST WOOD IN THE WORLD. 1 naked columns to the height of a hundred and fifty feet, while others scarcely attain to the standard of an ordinary man. On the water we shall see beautiful lilies — the snow-white nymphs and the yellow nuphars. We shall see the Victoria regia covering the pool with its massive waxlike flowers and huge circular leaves of bronze green. We shall see tall flags like Sara- cen spears, and the dark-green culms of gigantic rushes, and the golden arundinaria, the bamboo, and " cana brava," that rival the forest trees in neight. Many a form of animal life we may behold. Bask- ing in the sun we may behold the yellow and spotted body of the jaguar — a beautiful but dreaded sight. Breaking through the thick underwood, or emerging slowly from the water, we may catch a glimpse of the sombi*e tapir or the red-brown capivara. We may see the ocelot skulking through the deep shade or the margay springing upon its winged prey. We may see the shaggy ant bear tearing at the cones of sand clay and licking up the white termites; or we may behold the scaly armadillo crawling over the sun-parched earth and rolling itself up at the ap- proach of danger.