268 



for me to give any adequate idea of this splendid bird 

 in words. 



After this, I shot several kingfishers, of various 

 kinds ; one new and beautiful ground-pigeon ; and a 

 little fluffy goat-sucker, no larger than a sparrow. 

 Altogether, it was a grand bag of birds, and all I 

 could attend to that afternoon and the next morning. 

 Shelley was equally fortunate, obtaining several full- 

 plumaged birds-of-paradise, of two kinds. 



In the evening, many of the natives came to the 

 house where we were staying. Some of them came 

 from neighboring towns, and had never seen white 

 men before. They watched every motion, and lis- 

 tened to every word we uttered, with the greatest 

 attention. They thought us vastly handsome, and 

 wanted to know if there was a whole tribe of people 

 like ourselves. They also wished to know if our 

 entire bodies were the same color, and, if so, why 

 we clothed them. We told them it was sometimes 

 very cold in our country, and that we had become 

 so used to clothing it would seem strange to go 

 without. They next asked us to undress ; but not 

 liking the idea of posing nude before a hundred or 

 two men, women, and children, we compromised by 

 pulling off our shirts, when we received the most 

 extravagant compliments ; then we tried a few tricks, 

 but they were too sharp for us, being able to see 

 through nearly every one we performed. They had 



