I need scarcely say what mirth was excited by this account. While returning to our bivouac, Sumichrast told Lucien that the turkey is a native of America, and that it was introduced by the Jesuits into Europe, where it flourished well. In a domestic state, the color of its plumage altered to a reddish, a white, and a gray and black color. But it never lost the habit of walking about in flocks, and of laying its eggs in thickets, in a shapeless nest, which the young chicks leave the second day after they are hatched. Lastly, the Aztec name of the turkey--_totole_--is applied by the Indians to simpletons and cowards. Lucien then told l'Encuerado about the magpie and the amphisbaena. "You killed a _maquiz coatl_--a two-headed serpent!" cried the Indian. "I only wounded it, for it got away; but it had only one head." "Then you didn't examine it thoroughly; for it would not turn round when it crawled away." "I did not notice. I saw it leap up in the air, and that was all." "Have you searched well under the stones? Let us go back; the skin of the _maquiz coatl_ enables the blind to see. Why did you let it escape?" "Oh! we shall be sure to find another." "You can't find them whenever you like; they are very rare," replied the Indian, shaking his head. While the turkey was roasting under our superintendence, l'Encuerado and Lucien went off to try and find the amphisbaena's hole. [Illustration] [Illustration: "It looked like an immense pedestal, surmounted by two bronze statues."] [Illustration] CHAPTER XIV. THE METEOR.--GOD ALMIGHTY'S LANTERNS.--THE SKUNK.--THE JALAP-PLANT.--AN AERIAL JOURNEY.--THE ORCHIDS.--BIVOUAC IN THE MOUTH OF A CAVE.--GRINGALET AND THE BEETLES.--A WHITE ANTS' NEST. The sun left us soon afterwards, and we sat talking by the fire. At last l'Encuerado took away Lucien towards the rocks, and set up one of those interminable chants with which his memory was stored. Our fire lighted up with its red gleam the stone on which they were sitting, making it look like an immense pedestal, surmounted by two bronze statues. Any traveller suddenly entering the valley would have recoiled in terror before this fantastic apparition; and if any wild beast had been prowling near us, our gigantic shadows would certainly have made it keep its distance. We were just thinking of calling Lucien to come and lie down under the hut, when l'Encuerado shouted out to us. Towards the east, a large luminous disk was shining brilliantly above the mountain peaks. This luminous globe, lengthening out into the shape of an ellipse, appeared to move along. In fact, it was descending slowly over the wooded crests. Lucien and l'Encuerado kept plying us with questions in reference to it, which we were unable to answer. [Illustration] "What is it?" cried Sumichrast. "A meteor!" I exclaimed, struck with a sudden idea. "If I had my gun ready, I would fire at it, at all events."