146



Mr. F. E. Blaauw,



goose after haying been put in, at once retired to the furthest

corner of the kennel. I then gave it a tin in which was water,

bread and Lutsche ; the first day it hardly fed at all, but on the

second it began to eat the Kelp, carefully avoiding the bread. This,

of course, would not do, so I mixed the bread and the Kelp thor¬

oughly together, so that it would be difficult for the bird to eat the

one without the other, and after a few days my efforts were rewarded,

for the bird began to feed on the bread without the addition of

the Kelp.


Of course, during these first few days I paid constant visits

to my Goose, and when at last I saw it eating the bread, I was so

delighted that I could not help telling my friend the Captain of this

event, as he had been much interested in my bird all the time.


He immediately came to look and found the Goose still

eating. He, however, being a gigantic Norseman and accustomed to

eat things by the bushel, thought the nibbling of the bird at the

breadcrumbs in the water a very unsatisfactory way of feeding, and

having watched for awhile, he turned away in disgust, saying

depreciatingly “I should call that drinking, not eating!”


Happening to go on shore again, I obtained some fresh clover

and green cabbage, and after a while the bird began to feed on both.

High time too that it should, as the supply of Kelp was quite

exhausted. In the meanwhile my Goose had become quite tame.

After a voyage of a week I reached Coronel where I had to leave

the ship and travel by train to Santiago.


Now the difficulties began in earnest, and I was encouraged

by a kind friend who knew the country, who told me that if by

chance I should succeed in getting the Goose to Santiago in my

compartment, I should certainly fail in carrying it over the Andes to

Buenos Ayres ! Putting it with my luggage would have meant its

certain death, for it would have been thrown about as luggage

generally is, whilst at the same time I should have been unable to

feed it.


I left the ship at Coronel early in the morning, where I

admired a flight of Pelicans in the harbour, and started by train for

Conception, having successfully, without much difficulty, put the

box with the Goose into my compartment. Spending the day in



