202 SHOOTING WILD TURKEYS.

all presents of our parishioners, I laid out a portion
of it in the purchase of powder and shot to be em-
ployed in shooting wood-quests and squirrels. One
Thursday, when our treasure amounted to ten sous,
and the children had a holiday, J provided myself
with ammunition, and started in company with
Charles, a young French gentleman and a keen
sportsman, to shoot wild turkeys on the picturesque
banks of the Medina. After beating the copses
and brushwood to the utter destruction of our
clothes and hands, we failed to start a single bird.
Seeing this, my companion directed his attention
to coveys of partridges which whizzed past us at
every step, while I continued my way along the
rivers edge picking my steps with great caution,
lest I should tread on rattlesnakes or congos,—
hideous black serpents, extremely dangerous, which
abound in the neighbourhood of watercourses. I
arrived at length at a bend of the river where the
water calmly reposed under the shadow of enor-
mous fig trees. Athwart the foliage, the sun’s rays
gilded the parti-coloured water lilies which formed
the framework of this sparkling mirror. The chase
was soon forgotten, and whilst I stood admiring
this lovely spot, the leaves of the water lilies were
agitated, and I observed them disappear, and form,
as it were, a pathway under the water. It at once
occurred to me that some large fish was taking his