According to the American, they were still too close to the coast, and the humming-birds did not like these deserts so near the ocean.

The presence of man did not frighten them at the "hacienda;" they heard nothing all day but their cry of "teretere" and the murmur of their wings, similar to that of a spinning-wheel.
"Ah! how I should like to be there!" cried little Jack.
The surest method of getting there--to the "hacienda" of San Felice--was not to stop on the road.

Mrs.Weldon and her companions only took the time absolutely necessary for repose.
The aspect of the forest already changed.

Between the less crowded trees large clearings opened here and there.

The sun, piercing the green carpet, then showed its structure of red, syenite granite, similar to slabs of lapis-lazuli.