JUKI) BUYIXG AND IMl'ORTING. 2fy > 



and officers, stewards, or anybody who can render him the least favor, easily obtains 

 the promise of oiie. Fritz has always an eye on the cabin bill of fare, and generally 

 attains his ends, without the least idea of fulfilling his promise when called upon 

 to make good his word. This special bird promised has either died of consumption, 

 been drowned, or devoured by the rats ; and. if these various excuses and melan- 

 choly events don't allay the wrath of the irate steward, he reluctantly makes the gift 

 of a silent songster in the shape of a female. 



After his work is performed, he goes on deck to inspect the greenhorns who are 

 arriving in numbers. The noise and bustle do not in the least disturb him : nothing 

 is new to him who has crossed the ocean twenty, thirty, or fort} 7 times. No one is 

 on the dock, waving a handkerchief, or bidding him "God-speed : " and he thinks any 

 one who does is foolish. Should he espy a blanket which he thinks better than his 

 own, and finds the owner in an abstracted mood, thinking of his liver, or the friends 

 to be left behind, at that particular time he quickly transfers it to his bunk, deeming 

 two better than one ; and, in case his own should lie stolen, this one would prove 

 acceptable. He is used to the sobbing and caresses always seen when relatives and 

 friends part for a length of time. The constant repetition of these scenes render 

 him stony-hearted ; and his only cause for regret is, that some of the pretty girls so 

 lavish in their display of affection on other and homelier men are not there to bid 

 him adieu. 



When at sea, he must attend strictly to his work : otherwise his neglect will 

 quickly show itself in the health of his charges, and an alarming loss at the end 

 of the trip will be the sure result. He begins his work as early as four o'clock 

 A.M., to finish in proper season to give his birds a needed rest. A full hour is con- 

 sumed in cleaning seeds, drawing water, and preparing the different foods ; and he 

 has no spare time, even in good weather, if he performs his work thoroughly ; and 

 in bad weather his hours of labor are prolonged, consequent on the unsteadiness 

 of the ship, aud-the difficulty of moving around. 



The feeding and watering cannot be considered heavy work, but is slow and 

 monotonous. It is a labor which cannot be hastened. Each bird must receive its 

 rations of food and water every day, otherwise a long death-list must surely be 

 written. The birds which may become sick must be fed and attended to three and 

 four times every day ; as their appetites, during the run of a disease, are enormously 

 developed. Fritz, chiefly relies on the virtue of hard-boiled egg and maw-seed as 

 a medicine to restore his seed-eating birds to health. Sometimes, during the run 

 of a contagious disease, his labor is doubled, and his best efforts fruitless. Canaries 

 are liable to a disease as contagious and as deadly in its work among them as the 

 small-pox is to the human race. This contagious disease is called the ' Schnappen." 

 Cases have been known where only ten birds out of eight hundred were alive in 

 one week's run of this disease. There is no known cure, but it is supposed to 

 come from over-crowded and poorly ventilated rooms in the large bird-houses. 



When Fritz once sees this malady at work, his thoughts are bent on suicide ; as 

 life becomes a burden to him. Every good traveller takes a pride in having the 

 death-list as short as possible ; but to work hard, and see his charges die through 

 no neglect of his, is certainly not encouraging. His hours of labor are varied. In 

 good weather, with a smooth sea, and every thing favorable, he can do his work with 



