“Hilloa! what have we here?” he exclaimed, discharging his rifle into a flock of some thirty or forty birds, which rose and flew through the foliage of the trees. Looking up, my eyes were dazzled by the wonderful effect of the sun upon their plumage: never had I seen so beautiful a sight.
“Sahib, they are God’s birds,” said Kati.
“God’s birds!” I repeated, picking up two that had fallen. “They are birds of paradise, Martin.”
“Birds of paradise!” he repeated, examining the wondrous beauty of their plumage. “What a pity I have killed them! However, it can’t be helped—we must keep them for specimens. But I wonder how they came here. I have always heard that they are only to be found in Papua and the Moluccas.”
“Have got away, sahib, from some prahu wrecked upon the coast.”
“More likely they have escaped from the aviary of some native prince. But,” said I, as we walked on, “do you remember the queer stories we used to read at school about these beautiful creatures, Martin?”
“No.”
“Well then—how that they puzzled all the learned, who declared that they were inhabitants of air, living upon the dews of heaven, and never resting below?”
“Well, Claud, there was good reason for the supposition; for I do recollect having read that all the earlier specimens brought to Europe were without feet.”
“Aye, but that originated with the natives of the Moluccas, who, although savages, were very cunning. For instance, descrying the great admiration Europeans had for the beauty of their plumage, and knowing the high prices they would pay for them, before bringing the birds to market they cut off their feet—which, as you see, are ugly, and their only deformity. One deceit led to another. The purchaser, finding the birds without legs, naturally inquired after those members, and the seller, as naturally, began to assert that they had none. Thus far the European was imposed upon by others—in all the rest he imposed upon himself. Seeing so beautiful a bird without legs, he concluded that it could live only in air, where legs were unnecessary. The extraordinary splendor of its plumage assisted this deception; and as it had heavenly beauty, so was it asserted to have a heavenly residence; hence its name, and all the false reports that have been propagated concerning it.”