“No, they are not monkeys; but I’ll tell you what they are, although I cannot see them; they are parrots—I know their noise well. You see, William, it’s not very likely that monkeys should get here, but birds can, and it is the birds that we have to thank for the bananas and guavas, and other fruits we may find here.”
As soon as they came under the trees, there was a great rioting and fluttering, and then away flew, screaming as loud as they could, a flock of about three hundred parrots, their beautiful green and blue feathers glistening in the beams of the sun.
“I told you so; well, we’ll have some capital pies out of them, William.”
“Pies! do they make good pies, Ready?”
“Yes, excellent; and very often have I had a good dinner from one in the West Indies, and in South America. Stop, let us come a little this way; I see a leaf which I should like to examine.”
“The ground is very swampy just here, Ready; is it not?”
“Yes; there’s plenty of water below, I don’t doubt. So much the better for the animals; we must dig some pools when they come here.
“Oh! I thought I was not wrong. Look! this is the best thing I have found yet—we now need not care so much about potatoes.”
“Why, what are they, Ready?”
“Yams, which they use instead of potatoes in the West Indies. Indeed, potatoes do not remain potatoes long, when planted in hot climates.”