"Nor I, Ned, if I do not catch a bird of paradise."

"Let us continue hunting," replied Conseil. "Let us go towards the sea.
We have arrived at the first declivities of the mountains, and I think we had
better regain the region of forests."

That was sensible advice, and was followed out.
After walking for one hour we had attained a forest of
sago-trees. Some inoffensive serpents glided away from us.
The birds of paradise fled at our approach, and truly I despaired
of getting near one when Conseil, who was walking in front,
suddenly bent down, uttered a triumphal cry, and came back to me
bringing a magnificent specimen.

"Ah! bravo, Conseil!"

"Master is very good."

"No, my boy; you have made an excellent stroke.
Take one of these living birds, and carry it in your hand."

"If master will examine it, he will see that I have not deserved great merit."

"Why, Conseil?"

"Because this bird is as drunk as a quail."

"Drunk!"

"Yes, sir; drunk with the nutmegs that it devoured under
the nutmeg-tree, under which I found it. See, friend Ned,
see the monstrous effects of intemperance!"

"By Jove!" exclaimed the Canadian, "because I have drunk gin for two months,
you must needs reproach me!"

However, I examined the curious bird. Conseil was right.
The bird, drunk with the juice, was quite powerless. It could
not fly; it could hardly walk.

This bird belonged to the most beautiful of the eight species
that are found in Papua and in the neighbouring islands.
It was the "large emerald bird, the most rare kind."
It measured three feet in length. Its head was comparatively small,
its eyes placed near the opening of the beak, and also small.
But the shades of colour were beautiful, having a yellow beak,
brown feet and claws, nut-coloured wings with purple tips,
pale yellow at the back of the neck and head, and emerald
colour at the throat, chestnut on the breast and belly.
Two horned, downy nets rose from below the tail, that prolonged
the long light feathers of admirable fineness, and they
completed the whole of this marvellous bird, that the natives
have poetically named the "bird of the sun."

But if my wishes were satisfied by the possession of the bird
of paradise, the Canadian's were not yet. Happily, about two
o'clock, Ned Land brought down a magnificent hog; from the brood
of those the natives call "bari-outang." The animal came in time
for us to procure real quadruped meat, and he was well received.
Ned Land was very proud of his shot. The hog, hit by the electric ball,
fell stone dead. The Canadian skinned and cleaned it properly,
after having taken half a dozen cutlets, destined to furnish us
with a grilled repast in the evening. Then the hunt was resumed,
which was still more marked by Ned and Conseil's exploits.

Indeed, the two friends, beating the bushes, roused a herd
of kangaroos that fled and bounded along on their elastic paws.
But these animals did not take to flight so rapidly but what
the electric capsule could stop their course.

"Ah, Professor!" cried Ned Land, who was carried away by the
delights of the chase, "what excellent game, and stewed, too!
What a supply for the Nautilus! Two! three! five down!
And to think that we shall eat that flesh, and that the idiots on
board shall not have a crumb!"

I think that, in the excess of his joy, the Canadian,
if he had not talked so much, would have killed them all.
But he contented himself with a single dozen of these
interesting marsupians. These animals were small.
They were a species of those "kangaroo rabbits" that live
habitually in the hollows of trees, and whose speed is extreme;
but they are moderately fat, and furnish, at least, estimable food.
We were very satisfied with the results of the hunt.
Happy Ned proposed to return to this enchanting island the next day,
for he wished to depopulate it of all the eatable quadrupeds.
But he had reckoned without his host.

At six o'clock in the evening we had regained the shore;
our boat was moored to the usual place. The Nautilus, like a
long rock, emerged from the waves two miles from the beach.
Ned Land, without waiting, occupied himself about the important
dinner business. He understood all about cooking well.
The "bari-outang," grilled on the coals, soon scented the air with
a delicious odour.

Indeed, the dinner was excellent. Two wood-pigeons
completed this extraordinary menu. The sago pasty,
the artocarpus bread, some mangoes, half a dozen pineapples,


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