Cap. X V. The Caribby-lflands. 



" white, and the apple of the eye yellow and red as a Ruby fet 

 cc in Gold : it had upon the head a certain tuft or cap of fea- 

 " thers of a Vermilion red, fparking like a lighted coal, which 

 "was encompafs'd by feveral other leller feathers of a pearl 

 " colour. 



" If it were recommendable for all thefe extraordinary or- 

 " naments, it was much more for its familiarity and innocency 5 

 " for though it had a crooked beak, and that the claws with 

 " which he held his meat and brought it to his beak were fo 

 <c (harp as to take away whatever it fattened on, yet was it fo 

 " tame as to play with little Children and never hurt them 5 

 "and when one took him into his hand, he fo contracted his 

 "claws, that the ftiarpnefs of them could not be felt.* He had 

 " this quality of a dog, that he would lick with his fhort and 

 " thick tongue thole who made much of him and gave him 

 " fomething he liked, put his head to their cheeks to kifs and 

 " carefsthem, and expreffing his acknowledgments by a thou- 

 sand pretty insinuations, he would fufFer himfelf to be put 

 " into what pofture one would, and took a certain pleafure in 

 " diverting thbfe he thought his friends : But as he was mild 

 " and tradable to thofe who were kind to him, fo was he as mif- 

 "chievous and irreconcileable to fuchashadinjur'd him, and 

 '' he could diftinguifti them from others, and make them feel the 

 ";fharpnefs of his beak and claws. 



' " He fpokethe Dutch, Spanijh and Indian Language, and in 

 " the laft he fung Airs as a natural Indian : He alfo imitated 

 * the cries of all forts of Poultry and other creatures about the 

 "hoiife"': hecalfd all his friends by their names and fimames, 

 " flew to them as foon as he ..(aw them, efpecially when he was 

 ;< \Jiungry: If they had been abfent, and that he had not feen 

 ci them a long time, he exprefs'd his joy at their return by cer- 

 " tain merry notes : when he had fported himfelf till they 

 " were weary of him, he went away, and perch'd himfelf on 

 " the top of the houfe, and there he talk'd, fung, and play'd a 

 "thoufand tricks, laying his feathers in order, and dreffing 

 **£iilleleatitog himfelf with his beak : He was eafily kept; for 

 c ^*i6t pnly the bread commonly ufod in that Ifland, but all the 

 "fruits and roots growing there, were his ordinary food-, and 

 " when he had more given him then he needed, he carefully 

 cc laid up the remainder under the leaves wherewith the houfe 

 <e was covered, and took it when he had need. In a word, I 

 " never faw a more loving or more amiable Bird : Twas a Pre- 

 " fcnt for any Prince if he could have been brought over the 

 " Sea. This Bird had been brought from the Caribbj Iflands 

 "-to Monf. Rodenbonk then Governour of the Fort and Dutch 

 " Colony, which is in the Ifland of Corajfao, 



PAR* 



