BOA CONSTRICTOR
«Le boa qui serre. )») Les boidés (la gent de boas) sont de grands serpents de Amérique du Sud. Quelques especes de ces boidés sont trés utiles pour chasser les rats des maisons tropicales. D’autres, l’eunecte par exemple, sont bien dangereuses,
Les G&ANTS DU MONDE DES REPTILES
Jai connu des hommes trés courageux qui ne pouvaient s’empécher de frissonner a la vue d’un serpent. Je souhaite que le titre de ce chapitre ne produise pas la méme impression sur mes lecteurs, car ils tourneraient ces pages sans les lire, et, vraiment, je serais vexé de les avoir écrites pour rien! Ils auraient d’autant plus tort que je vais leur raconter sur ces créatures qui nous remplissent d’une horreur instinctive des choses qui sont loin d’étre déplaisantes.
Jadis, la terre et les mers furent peuplées de reptiles monstrueux qui atteignaient jusqu’a trente métres de
on
longueur: tels ces dinosaures, dont nous retrouvons dans le sol les squelettes et méme les ceufs. Les géants actuels du monde reptilien n’offrent pas de pareilles dimensions ; cependant, pythons et boas, qui appartiennent 5a la méme famille, mesurent communément de six a dix metres. L’eunecte, le plus puissant des boas, qui vit dans le nord de l’Amérique du Sud, notamment dans les foréts humides de la Guyane, est aussi gros que le corps d’un homme, et il m’arriva d’en tuer un dont la longueur était 1ode prés de onze metres.
J’étonnerai certainement mes lecteurs en affrmant que ces monstres, loin d’étre les ennemis de l’homme, sont pour lui utiles auxiliaires. J’ai vécu deux années de ma jeunesse dans un pays (le Darien), réputé a bon droit pour
tsle grand nombre et pour la grande taille de ses boas, et j’attends encore que l’on me cite un cas authentique d’un étre humain attaqué et mis 4 mort par une de ces gigantesques couleuvres.
Assurément elles ne se privent pas, si l’occasion s’en
20 présente, de dévorer une poule, un jeune chien ou un porc ; mais ce sont la de notables exceptions. Et voici qui mettra le comble a la surprise du lecteur: dans tous les villages de VAmérique tropicale, chaque maison a son boa demi-apprivoisé qui élit domicile dans le chaume de la
25 toiture, et dont la compagnie n’est pas un sujet d’alarme ou de répulsion pour les habitants.
Ce n’est que la nuit que ce boa révéle sa présence. Si vous avez le sommeil léger, vous étes bientdét réveillé par les cris percants des rats qui courent, affolés, sur les char-
3opentes du toit: c’est le serpent qui se met en chasse. Il est difficile de dire combien de rongeurs passent ainsi de vie a trépas durant la nuit: deux douzaines au moins, sans parler de cancrelats et autres insectes que le boa ingurgite entre deux bouchées! La chasse terminée, le grand ser-
pent descend sur le sol ot la maitresse a préparé, 4 son intention, une écuelle d’eau fraiche; et il regagne son lit dans le chaume aprés s’étre désaltéré. Alors il s’enroule sur lui-méme et s’endort bientot.
Je ne raconte pas la des choses que j’aurais /ues, mais des choses que j’ai vues, et fréquemment. II me souvient d’un spectacle extraordinaire. Comme je descendais de pirogue, pour pénétrer dans un village indien de la Colombie, un incendie éclata au centre de l’agglomération, et, en l’espace de cinq minutes, sous l’action d’un vent en tourbillon, les flammes dévorerent presque toutes les paillotes du village.
Instantanément les rues furent encombrées de centaines de reptiles qui sortaient des toitures et du sol des chaumiéres en une fuite affolée, sans préter attention aux personnes, aux chiens et aux cochons que l’incendie chassait en une cohue indescriptible. Il y avait la des serpents de toutes couleurs et de toutes grandeurs, et je remarquai que la plupart, servis par un instinct merveilleux, se dirigeaient vers la riviére, dont les berges dénudées leur offriraient un str abri devant la marche du fléau.
Je choisirai dans mes souvenirs une autre anecdote qui vous expliquera la sympathie que j’éprouve envers ces grands serpents d’humeur débonnaire. Sans entrer dans des détails qui allongeraient démesurément ce récit, je dirai qu’un jour, vers midi (cela se passait en pleine forét tropicale, prés d’une mine d’or que nous exploitions), je regagnais notre camp, situé sur la rive d’un torrent. Les ouvriers n’étaient pas encore rentrés ; le cuisinier cueillait au loin des fruits sauvages; un silence absolu régnait. En m’approchant de la petite place autour de laquelle nos huttes formaient le cercle, j’apercois, en son centre, un énorme boa qui se chauffait au soleil, et qui, au bruit de mes pas, déroule sans trop de hate ses anneaux. Mon cri
Be)
mn
de surprise précipite sa fuite et, comme deux de mes ouvriers arrivent, je les mets au courant.
« Nous allons le prendre vivant, » offrent-ils. Vite, une longue perche et une corde sont préparées. Le 5 boa s’est laissé glisser au bas de la rive du torrent, et, en me penchant, je distingue sa masse entre deux roches a cing métres au-dessous de moi. Les réles sont partagés: Je tiens le gros bout de la perche, tandis qu'un homme, descendu au fond du ravin, en dirige le petit bout, terminé ropar une fourche dans laquelle il emprisonne adroitement le cou de la béte, que la corde achéve d’enserrer. Aprés quelques tribulations, nous réussimes a le soulever et a le maitriser. Deux ou trois fois je fus projeté a terre par les mouvements désordonnés de la victime, qui se tordait et 15s’agitait (tel un fouet qui pesait bien ses vingt kilogrammes) au sommet de la perche que je m’efforcais de tenir verticale.
Finalement nous ptimes |’attacher a un piquet planté a Pécart des maisons, et, pendant trois ou quatre heures, il
20 témoigna de sa colére en se redressant sur le ventre et en sifflant dés approche d’un visiteur. Mais durant ce temps notre charpentier hatait la confection d’une caisse (en acajou massif!) dont le couvercle portait de nombreux trous d’aération, et nous y déposames notre capture.
25 Deux jours plus tard, on pouvait soulever le couvercle sans que le boa (qui mesurait prés de six métres) en manifestat de la frayeur ou du ressentiment. Encore deux jours, et il prenait un plaisir évident a entendre un neégre lui siffler un air de danse! MHuit jours aprés la capture, il
30 était apprivoisé 4 ce point que l’on ouvrait le soir sa caisse, placée dans le dortoir des ouvriers, qu’il passait la nuit a chasser les rats (qui pullulaient avant lui dans le campement), et qu’on le retrouvait au matin roulé dans sa paille, dormant avec la satisfaction du devoir accompli!
Ces cas de familiarité peuvent s’expliquer facilement. Le boa, qui n’est qu’une grosse couleuvre, n’est pas venimeux: il attaque les petits mammiféres ou les oiseaux en les happant dans ses machoires et en les avalant sans plus de maniéres. Quand la proie est volumineuse, il s’enroule autour d’elle, lui broie les os en la comprimant de toutes ses forces, qui sont considérables, puis, recouvrant de bave le corps inerte, l’avale progressivement. Ses mAachoires sont montées de telle fagon qu’elles s’écartent pour livrer passage 4 une proie beaucoup plus grosse que la téte.
Le boa n’a guére qu’un ennemi a redouter: le pécari, petit sanglier américain trés batailleur qui chasse en meute, et qui n’hésite pas a se précipiter sur les plus gros reptiles, qu’il déchire et dévore. Mais le pécari se tient prudemment a l’écart des villages, car sa chair est recherchée, et le boa sait tres bien qu’il n’aura rien 4 redouter de ces adversaires en élisant domicile parmi les hommes. De fait, Indiens et négres le respectent, et il faut des circonstances exceptionnelles pour que le pacte tacite soit rompu.
De telles circonstances se présentérent quand j’eus 4 tuer un eunecte, qui est, je lai dit, le plus grand des serpents, et qui passe presque toute sa vie dans l’eau. S’il se contentait d’y poursuivre les poissons, personne n’y trouverait a redire ; mais il a aussi la détestable habitude de s’embusquer devant la plage ot les animaux domestiques viennent s’abreuver ; et voici comment il procéde pour s’emparer d’un beeuf, d’un cheval, ou d’un cochon :
Tl ancre le bout de sa queue a une racine immergée en maintenant tout juste le sommet de sa téte au ras de l’eau. Dés que le boeuf (je prends ce cas dont je fus témoin) est a bonne portée, l’énorme masse se détend avec la rapidité de Véclair, et ses crocs se rivent au museau de |’animal. Une lutte d’endurance et de force musculaire s’engage, le ruminant se débattant en s’arc-boutant sur les jarrets,
Veunecte resserrant et relachant sa traction successivement, afin d’épuiser l’énergie physique de l’adversaire. Parfois c’est le taureau qui triomphe, et qui en est quitte pour une affreuse blessure; parfois aussi il finit par céder, est en- 5 trainé sous l’eau, et, asphyxié, passe dans le vivant étau pour étre broyé avant d’étre avalé, os, cuir et cornes y compris!
Averti 4 temps par un Indien, il me fut donné d’assister aux derniers épisodes d’un de ces duels tragiques. Déja, tole malheureux bovidé, qui poussait des plaintes sourdes et lamentables, avait de eau jusqu’au poitrail, quand mon plomb fracassa l’épine dorsale du monstrueux serpent qui lacha prise et disparut dans l’eau.
Je noterai, 4 ce propos, que les serpents, venimeux ou non, 1s petits ou gros, sont des créatures fragiles que le moindre grain de plomb met instantanément hors de combat, ou qu’un coup de baton appliqué sur le milieu du corps réduit a limpuissance. L’essentiel, c’est de frapper juste, sec. . . et fort!
QUESTIONS
Quels sont les plus grands serpents du monde ?
Quels services les boas rendent-ils a l’homme ? Comment les boas tuent-ils leur proie ?
Comment peuvent-ils avaler une victime plus grosse
ux?
De quelle facgon l’eunecte maitrise-t-il un taureau ? Pourquoi le boa redoute-t-il les pécaris ?
Ou les boas se rencontrent-ils ?
Comment peut-on se défendre contre un de ces reptiles ? 9. Que savez-vous des dinosaures ?
10, Quelles dimensions peut atteindre un boa?
be GO oo te
qu’
Co) ab Go Ga
Pace1 The title, literally, To Every Lord All Honor, may be freely translated: Honor to Whom Honor Is Due.
144 m. 10, 2.c., 4 meters, 10 centimeters, somewhat over 12 feet, 7 inches. The meter, the basic unit of the metric system, equals 39.37 inches. It is one ten-millionth of a quadrant of the earth’s surface on the meridian of Paris.
18 il vous tord, lit., he bends for you. Vous is merely a device to call attention to the statement (the Latin ethical dative).
19 Ce announces a real subject following the verb, which subject — if an infinitive — is preceded by de or que de. Ina succession of such infinitives, e.g., arracher and soulever, que is used with the first only, but de is repeated with each.
1 12 ce n’est pas 14, a strongly emphatic idiom: and that is not an expression. For greater emphasis the 14 is often separated from the demonstrative pronoun ce in the compound cela.
21 Here le represents the object of prouverai; the pronoun le is used to refer to a previous statement. The same use of le gave rise to expressions like l’emporter sur, to have the advantage of, ‘‘ to put it over on”’ one.
2 9 a les oreilles, not partitive, has [the] ears.
2 17 Note the omission of the article with résultat. A noun in apposition to another noun or to a sentence omits the article when it is merely explanatory and unstressed.
2 17 For le verrons cf. note on le prouverai, line r.
2 21 Numeral nouns — pair, dozen, etc. — are rare in English, though very common in French. They occur frequently in
these stories.
ay
2 26 appartiennent is subjunctive in a clause depending on a word expressing emotion — here the adjective surpris. Verbs of emotion imply a conflict of ideas, with the possibility of either being right: hence the subjunctive.
229 Translate savent: have known how to. An act begun in the past, however remote, and continued into the present is always expressed in French by the present indicative.
2 30 Partitive expressions may be subjects or objects of verbs, or may follow prepositions, as des milliers d’années, which is governed by depuis.
230 The I’ before on is merely euphonic, to avoid an hiatus after et.
3 17 Note the omission of the article with are. In old French un meant a definite one; and an indefinite noun remained without an indefinite article, as it frequently does in modern French.
3 20 s’il vient 4 soupconner, if he comes to suspect, 1.e., happens to suspect.
3 25 gré, see vocabulary.
44 The article is omitted with trompe and défense as being mere adjective modifiers. Coup is here a literal blow or thrust with trunk or tusk.
4 5 font les récalcitrants, act obstinately.
4 13 Translate as a passive, have been made to understand.
5 9 Elephant omnibuses.
5 11 Condense entrepéts de bois de construction into /umber yards.
5 23 apprend d’elle-méme, Jearns by himself. Elle is feminine, representing monture.
5 25 en, as preposition, i or into, has, to a great extent, been replaced by a or dans in modern French. En is in general used before an undetermined noun and dans before an article.
5 32 He may have attempted (lit. addressed himself to).
6 2 Mentor was the friend to whom Odysseus entrusted the care of his home and family on leaving for the Trojan war. His name has become proverbial for a wise and faithful adviser.
6 7 ce qui, what. Ce qui(orce que) ... c’est (orest).... In such cases the ce, which announces a real subject, is usually repeated.
6 10 intervienne is subjunctive depending on sans que, without. Such clauses in English use the verbal in -ing: without the mahout interfering.
6 12 Birmanie, Burma, a British dependency in India, lying athwart the Irrawaddy River and fronting on the northeast portion of the Bay of Bengal.
87 The ancients gave the name Asia Minor to the western portion of Asia, south of the Black Sea. Syria is a country of the Levant, of great historical importance, bounded by the Euphrates River, the Mediterranean Sea, and Arabia. Mesopotamia lies between the great rivers Euphrates and Tigris: the name is Greek and signifies ‘‘ Between the Rivers.”” Arabia is a vast peninsula to the west of southern Asia, forming the eastern border of the Red Sea. Its center is a great arid plateau; its coasts are fertile.
8 9 Jules Gérard (6. 1817 —d. 1864) was probably the most famous lion hunter of all time. He was called le Tueur de Lions, the Lion-killer. Armed only with the inferior weapons of the time, he surpassed the exploits of present-day hunters, such as Selous and Cunninghame, who bore the most powerful modern rifles.
89 se couvrit de gloire: verbs requiring de take no article before a partitive or an unmodified noun.
8 11 devaient porter, were fo deal: devoir, as an auxiliary, denotes likelihood or probability of the action expressed by the following infinitive.
9 3 il n’abonde plus que dans, fe is no longer found in large numbers except in.
96 Instead of writing quelques lions existent, the author chose the impersonal idiom, which is to be translated in exactly the same way,
9 s ait is subjunctive in a characteristic clause depending on seul.
9 10 Gujarat is a district of the Punjab in India, lying in the region drained by the Indus River.
9 11 en interdit la chasse, en refers to the lions.
9i2en... les émotions, the excitement of it: en refers to la chasse.
9 13 The conditional often carries the idea must; seraient, must be; i.e., probably are. One of the uses of the conditional is to make a statement without vouching for its truth.
917 The possessive adjective is rarely used with a word indicating a part of the body except when such a word is subject of the verb, and often not then. A personal pronoun (here Iui) is employed to show the person or thing referred to. Translate covers his neck. (This construction is a parallel to the Latin dative of reference.)
9 18 2 m. 40, about 7 ft. rz in.
9 22 a des léopards, see note to p. 2, l. 30.
9 23 The boma, African native stockade, is an enclosure of high stakes firmly set and interwoven with thorn bushes, erected for defense against predatory animals.
9 29 On en a vu, some (of them) have been seen.
9 34 For the gratitude of lions, see the story of Androcles, the slave who cured the foot of an injured lion which afterwards saved his life. The story is told by the Latin authors Seneca and Gellius.
9 34 que sais-je encore, and what not.
10 4 se laissa toucher par, Jet himself be touched by: toucher is to be translated by an English passive infinitive. This construction occurs also after faire, entendre, sentir, voir. The object pronoun then precedes the personal verb and not the infinitive.
109 ne s’en portait guére etc., got off none the worse for it.
10 10 Cafre: the Kaffirs are a powerful negritic tribe in southeastern Africa (Cape Colony).
1015 The English idiom is, he was sleeping the sleep of the
just. The French uses de, with the sleep of the just, since dormir is never transitive.
10 25 en fut quitte pour, got off with.
10 26 efit commencé: the pluperfect subjunctive may appear in either or both clauses of a conditional sentence contrary to fact, past, instead of the more common pluperfect indicative of the “if” clause and the perfect conditional of the conclusion.
10 34 Ouganda, Uganda, a British possession in the region of the upper Nile, northwest of Lake Victoria Nyanza.
11 2 Senegal is a French colony in West Africa.
11 s The conditional, pourrait, is here to be translated, might explain.
11 10 Je sais un chasseur, J know of a hunter; had the acquaintance been personal, je connais would have been required.
11 12 L’Illustration is the name of an important French illustrated weekly.
11 16 Mombasa is a seaport of British East Africa, in the former sultanate of Zanzibar. Nairobi is the capital of Kenia Colony, also a British possession.
1116 chantiers here signifies railroad yards temporarily organized at rail-head during construction.
11 25 faisant, taking.
11 26 voie de garage, siding.
11 33 vienne is subjunctive in a clause depending on demander.
12 3 sans demander son reste, without asking for his change, an idiom implying precipitate haste.
12 11 un bon moment, a full minute, “ quite a while.” Good is used in English in precisely the same sense: cf. Bryant, Little People of the Snow, “And I am older, two good years, than he.”’ Bon may be used in French as a synonym of grand, considérable, bien complet.
12 15 bétes et gens, man and beast.
12 19 Il est for Ily a.
13 4 trouve is a subjunctive introduced by que, let my sincerity find. ‘The construction expresses a wish or order.
14 2 n’en est pas moins, nome the less for that.
14 3 se verrait refuser, see note to p. Io, |. 4.
14 5 jury, adopted from the English. All literary languages exhibit such borrowings from other tongues.
15 6 Cambodge, Cambodia, the Kingdom of Indo-China, a French protectorate in the northeastern part of Cochin-China, traversed by the Me-Kong River which rises in Tibet and empties into the China Sea. Its capital is Pnom-Penh, famed for its marvelous architectural remains.
15 6 abonde is subjunctive depending on bien que, although.
15 14 commettent, see note to p. 2, |. 26.
15 25 Je viens de mentionner, / just mentioned: venir de with infinitive, to be coming from (doing) is therefore equivalent to the English, to have just done.
15 28 puissent, a subjunctive of emotion, influenced by surpris, though it directly depends on entendre.
15 33 que l’on trouve: I’ merely euphonic: translate, which is found.
15 34 Bengal, the most important of the divisions of British India.
16 5 celui refers to the tiger.
16 6 Amour, the Amur, a large river of northeastern Asia. It forms part of the boundary between Siberia and Manchuria, and empties into the Sea of Okhotsk. Corea is a mountainous peninsula between the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea. It is now a Japanese possession.
16 13 encore se hasarde-t-il: the subject generally follows the verb after an introductory encore, and may also stand in this position after other adverbs, e¢.g., aussi, 4 peine, du moins, au moins, peut-étre.
16 16 Exceller is always intransitive. Excel, in the transitive sense, is surpasser or l’emporter sur.
16 1s s’en prendre aux femmes, /o0 confine his attention to women.
16 24 Un fait . . . c’est que: ce may be used to draw at-
tention to the real subject or to a clause introduced by que or to other parts of a sentence.
16 27 on the other slope is a eaphemism of having passed one’s prime — on the down hill, as the English phrases it.
16 32 Translate individu by animal.
16 33 a se faire sentir, fo make itself felt: see note to p. 10, |. 4.
17 2 ne saurait: ne with the conditional of savoir may be used for the negative present of pouvoir.
17 6 ce que, what: see note to p. 6, 1. 7.
1717 Yunnam, Yunnan, a province in southwestern China.
17 29 soient venues is a subjunctive of characteristic depending on a superlative.
i7 30 Dr. Joseph F. Rock is one of the most distinguished geographers, explorers, and plant collectors of the United States Department of Agriculture. He is the author of many interesting articles in the National Geographic and other magazines, and was the leader of the National Geographic Society’s Yunnan expedition.
18 7 il envoyait rouler, he sent rolling. An infinitive following entendre, écouter, regarder, sentir, voir, is often best translated by an English verbal form in -ing.
18 19 s’y fit prendre, got (himself) caught in it, i.e., was caught. To prevent repetition of a, dans, sur, etc., and a noun, or repetition of a clause, y is used.
18 29 sauf exceptions, with some exceptions.
19 1 a pris gotit a, acquired a taste for.
19 4 sportsman, another adoption from the English.
19 16 elle refers to victime.
19 19 Société etc., Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
20 12 qui voient grand et gros, take an exaggerated view of things, or, in current slang, see big.
21 1 el tigré, Spanish for the tiger: the accent here merely indicates to French readers the pronunciation of the Spanish word.
21 2 The word homonym, a Greek derivative, means here a creature having the same name; 7.e., the true tiger.
21 9 The jaguar is now probably extinct in the United States, except for occasional marauders from across the Mexican border.
21 29 A virgin forest is one in which timber has never been cut.
21 31 efit-il pu; translate, he would have been able to, and see note to p. 10, |. 26.
22 1 Martinique, an island in the French Antilles. It was made famous by the terrible eruption of the volcano, Mont Pelée, in 1902, which destroyed the city of Saint Pierre with the loss of nearly its entire population.
22 3 chasseur, tireur; predicate nouns expressing occupation or nationality take no article.
22 5 Provide with is pourvoir de: when a verb requires de to complete its sense, the following noun, if partitive or indefinite, takes no article: hence nous pourvoir de (not du) gibier.
22 7 y refers to the tree: see note to p. 18, 1. 19.
22 14 croyant avoir affaire avec, thinking that they were dealing with.
23 1 vivait, had been living, continued action in past time.
23 34 Darien is the eastern portion of the Isthmus of Panama, just where it joins the mainland of South America.
24 3 ait is subjunctive in a relative clause influenced especially by rares, which is allied in meaning and force to seul. See note to p. 9, |. 8.
24 30 se fait prendre. See note to p. 18, 1. 10.
25 7 Patagonia is a vast area constituting the southern extremity of South America. It was formerly independent, but was divided between Chili and Argentina in 1881.
25 13 entretenaient . . . voisinage, lived like good neighbors.
27 2 Telle, for instance.
27 2 The d’ limits the entire word-group, ours mal léché, introducing the phrase in: apposition to the word expression.
27 5 aurait, conditional expressing probability: 7 probably has. See note to p. o, 1. 13.
27 5 veut: the French represents the legend as “ willing ” or “ wishing ”’ the truth of its statement; the English merely as “telling” the tale. The subjunctives soit and prenne depend on veut, but the ‘‘ wish ”’ idea is to be entirely ignored in translating: say the legend that a bear etc.
27 7 In English a common saying, based on the same superstition, is ‘‘ licked into shape.”
27 s Heureusement que: exclamatory sentences may be introduced by adverbs; in this way heureusement developed into heureusement que, used here to introduce the sentence, as the equivalent of Il est heureux que. For the 14 in this sentence, see MOL MONMeel lena.
27 9 s’y userait la langue; s’ is an indirect object (dative) pronoun. Translate, would wear out her tongue by it (i.e., by doing it). This is an instance of y referring to a clause. See note to p. 18, 1. 10.
28 1 Océanie: aslight oversight. In line 17 the author mentions the beautiful sun-bear of Borneo, the great island of Malaysia, one of the three grand divisions of Oceanica.
28 5 Périgord, a district of southwestern France, comprising the Departments of the Dordogne and part of Lot-et-Garonne. It was united to the French crown by Henry IV in1s589. In this district are prehistoric cave-dwellings with remarkable wall pictures. The Stone Age was the age when men had not yet discovered the use of metals, and made all their implements of stone and shells.
28 s Pyrénées, a range of lofty mountains forming the boundary between France and Spain.
28 10 Grenoble, a city of southeastern France, situated on the Isére, a tributary of the Rhone from the east. The Dauphinese Alps are the mountains immediately surrounding Grenoble.
28 12 Les Carpathes, the Karpathian Mountains, a range in the north of Hungary and east and south of Transylvania. They begin not far from Vienna and end at the Iron Gate of the
Danube. The Balkans are a range in southeastern Europe, north of the Balkan Peninsula.
28 27 This is a slight error. The huge grizzly bear of North America never climbs when full-grown; probably because he fears to attempt to drag his enormous bulk up a tree, and risk the breaking, under his great weight, of the comparatively slender boughs of the pines and firs. Grizzly cubs, however, sometimes climb.
28 31 le refers to carnivores; they are not exclusively so.
29 1 leur, to them, not for them.
29 17 The French personify the bear as Master Martin; we, as Bruin, or, in the case of the grizzly only, as Ephraim: lui is merely for emphasis.
29 23 y comprises, included.
29 24 on, people; de, for.
29 32 A Latin term signifying horrible bear. All scientific nomenclature is either Latin or Greek.
30 3 longues de huit cm., a regular expression of dimension ; lit., Jong of eight centimeters. (The construction is the Latin genitive of measure.)
30 23 n’a fait que retarder, as served only to delay.
31 5 amphibie, an amphibian, a creature which lives both on land and in the water.
31 17 a toutes les audaces; cf. the English slang, all kinds of nerve.
31 23 Ilen est méme = Ily ena méme, There are even some of them.
32 2 iceberg, another instance of word adoption.
32 8 tout juste le bout, just the tip.
LE MONSTRE AU NEZ CORNU
33 2 faune, fauna, the living creatures belonging to a country.
33 11 Iles de la Sonde, Sunda Islands, the great chain extending from the Malay Peninsula to the Moluccas. Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, etc., belong to this Sunda Archipelago.
34 2 plaques, 7.e., of heavy calloused hide.
34 s Congo, a mighty river system of central and western Africa. The state organized under Belgian sovereignty along the upper and central reaches of the river also bears the same name.
34 9 4 m. 69, slightly in excess of r5 feet !
34 20 Cap de Bonne Espérance. The Cape of Good Hope is at the southern extremity of Africa. The British colony in which it lies is known as Cape Colony.
34 27 il n’en fallut . . . ce nom, // needed no more to get them (lit., to procure for them) this name. Valoir, as a transitive verb, means to produce, cause, make, obtain, furnish, etc.
34 30 soit un gris: soit here equals c’est 4 dire or savoir, namely, a gray.
35 7 mettre en presence, pit against each other.
35 11 match nul, zo game, or a drawn match; another expression adopted from the English.
35 11 en venir aux coups, come to blows; en indicates that in an entire possible fight, they did not get as far as “‘ coups.”
35 26 lui and elle both refer to espéce.
35 32 Transvaal, a former independent state of South Africa, occupied by Dutch emigrants called Boers, conquered by Great Britain in the Boer War and annexed to the Cape Colony in 1900. It now forms part of the South African Union.
36 19 soient depends for its mode on si... que, heavy as they are.
87 20 faire le mort, pretend to be dead, play dead, “ play possum.”
38 3 Azandés, the Ashangos, discovered by the explorer Du Chaillu, the first European to encounter the gorilla.
38 11 s’en fut mourir, went off and died.
39 7 A ruminant is an animal that chews the cud; 7.e., brings up into the mouth from the stomach food already swallowed, and remasticates it.
399 Lama: the //iama (pronounced yama) is the beast of burden in the Andean regions of South America from Ecuador southward. Three other cameloid species are found in the same mountain area; the alpaca and vicuna, valued for their fleece, and the undomesticated guanaco.
40 3 Pérou, Peru.
40 3 Terre de Feu, Z7ierra del Fuego, several islands at the southern extremity of South America, separated from the mainland by the Strait of Magellan and terminating in Cape Horn.
40 16 Sibérie . . . Siberia, Persia, etc.
40 20 si l’on en croit, if one may believe on this point (en): en equals sur cela, 4 l’égard de cela, etc.
40 22 Gobi: the Desert of Gobi, a vast desert of Mongolia, recently made scientifically famous through the discoveries made by an expedition of American scientists. Among other marvels, eggs of the dinosaur, a huge prehistoric saurian (lizard) were unearthed.
40 22 auraient apercu, the conditional may here be translated, they claimed to have seen. See note to p. 9, |. 13.
40 23 approcher, the transitive verb is rare in this sense of approach, draw near: s’approcher de is the usual form for this meaning, approcher being restricted to bring near.
40 30 expédient: this verb, curiously enough, means both to kill and to export or ship. The underlying idea is in both cases that of hastening (expediting) to final destination.
40 32 enveloppent, translate as passive, wrapped im camel skins.
40 34 Lac Baikal, Lake Baikal, a large lake in southern Siberia, forming the main source of the Yenisei River. The region to the south of the lake is Trans-Siberia.
41 3 Mer Caspienne, the Caspian Sea, a great inland sea in western Asia, which lies more than 80 feet below the level of the Black Sea. It has no outlet and appears to be slowly shrinking in size, despite the enormous volume of fresh water poured into it by the great Volga River. Were it not for the Volga, its waters would be as mineral laden and lifeless as those of the Dead Sea.
41 7 The!’ is not to be translated: it refers back to Providentiel.
41 27 Arabe: Arab, a Semitic race, native to Arabia, but now widely scattered throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe. The Tuaregs are a nomadic people of Berber stock living in the Sahara Desert.
41 31 en jugera: de with a noun (not referring to persons) or with a clause is replaced by en.
42 10 Algérie; Algeria, a French colony on the Mediterranean shore of North Africa.
42 21 Pendjab; the Punjab, a vassal state of the British Indian Empire in the northwestern portion, consisting of the region watered by the eastern tributaries of the Indus. Radjpoutana; Rajputana, a vast region of northwestern British India, comprising twenty-one native states. Goualior, Gwalior, a vassal state of the Indian Empire to the east of Rajputana.
43 4 Note au Turkestan, en Afghanistan, dans le Queensland: when the name of a country is masculine with an initial consonant, i or fo it is expressed by a with the article; when it is feminine, or masculine with an initial vowel, zz or fo it is expressed by the preposition en without an article; Queensland is simply the land of the Queen and takes dans as not being a real proper name at all, since Queen is a mere possessive modifier of land.
43 23 Andalousie; Andalusia, a region in southern Spain, the valley of the Guadalquivir, the seat of ancient and medieval Moorish civilization. It is now divided into eight provinces.
43 31 Quoiqw’ il en soit, However that may be.
44 2 au point qu’ils, so much so that; a result clause.
44 11 Avec une avance de, several hours in advance.
45 2 Paleontology is the science which treats of the ancient life of the globe and its fossil remains, both of animals and plants. Comparative Anatomy treats of the structural relations of the higher organisms to those of lower type,
46 9 Varbre généalogique, the family tree, a diagram showing descent and relationship in families.
46 32 ce moment, the moment of the appearance of the fivetoed horse.
46 33 eocéne, the eocene, the earliest epoch of the cenozoic era, the latest of the five great eras into which geologic time is divided. (The other eras, in receding order, are the mesozoic, paleozoic, proterozoic and archaeozoic.)
476 The word signalement means the description for the identification of a person, an animal, or an object.
47 31 denture, dentition, the structure and arrangement of the teeth.
48 5 Aussi, retrouvons-nous, an inversion of the word order.
48 7 Mesohippus, a Greek derivative meaning the intermediate horse.
48 1s Hipparion, also from the Greek, signifies the diminutive horse.
48 30 Alexandre, Alexander the Great, king of Macedon and world-conqueror. His famous war-horse was named Bucepha- Jus, a Greek term meaning “ Bull-head”’ . . . whether from its shape or the horse’s stubbornness history saith not! The hoofs of Bucephalus are reputed to have been cloven (fourchus).
49 29 en, 77 this matter.
49 32 Que for Combien.
50 1 lui refers to chameau and emphasizes it: the camel (he) also.
50 3 du Far-West, a phrase borrowed from the English and naturalized as a French noun.
50 9 la clé des champs, /iberty, freedom: lit., the key of the fields.
50 12 These central Asian wild horses are of the species known as Przhevalski’s horse. A few of them are flourishing and breeding in the Zoélogical Garden of Philadelphia and in other collections. See the illustration on page 45.
50 15 Lithuanie, Lithwania, a republic of northeastern Europe. It was formerly a province of ancient Poland. Its dense forests contain whatever may be left of the European bison and the elk,
