CHAPTER II. 
PARROT ISLAND.—HOW THE PARROTS BUILD THEIR NESTS.— 
PARROT SOUP. 
THERE is an Island by the sea, ina far country, called 
Nengue Ngozo. 
T shall always remember that Island; for when I went 
there I was young and wild—as wild as the waves of 
that sea. I had no mother to care for me; I had no 
sister to love me when I came to this Island. The wide 
world was before me. But I loved to roam in wild and 
distant countries; I loved to look upon and study the 
men, the beasts, the birds, the fishes, the insects, and the 
trees. I had no one with me, but God was kind to me, 
and took care of me, and he has now brought me back 
safely, so that I might tell you all I have seen. 
On Nengue Ngozo there was a little village. That 
village had a King, who instead of a crown wore a woolen 
cap, and for a sceptre he had a cane. 
Indeed, the Island of Nengue Ngozo, which means 
Parrot Island, is a little kingdom of itself. It is covered 
with forest, and is situated in the estuary called the Ga- 
boon, formed in the bight of Guinea, on the west coast 
_ of Africa, some fifteen or sixteen miles north of the 
equator, and a few miles from the sea. Not far from it 
there is another Island called Konikey. (Both of these 
