I classed him at once as a specimen of the
Psittacus Ochropterus. The ape and the parrot seemed to have taken
shelter beneath the palm tree, like myself, for the purposes of shade
and repose. They had beside them a basket filled with dead game, fruit,
and honey; and the parrot had a long instrument near him on the ground,
which I afterwards learned was a fowling-piece. They talked a strange
jargon of different intonation, like that of the respective chatter of
the grey and the green parrots. Both seemed to complain, and, by the
expression of their ugly and roguish faces, to interrogate each other.
As soon as they went away, I endeavoured to mutter to myself the sounds
they had uttered, but could retain only two phrases. The one had been
spoken by the ape, and ran thus--"Shure it was for my sweet sowl's
sake, jewel;" the other was--"Eh, sirs, it was aw' for the love of the
siller." I was extremely amused by my acquisition; and, being convinced
that I was now qualified to present myself at the settlement, was about
to descend from my altitude, when the two strangers returned: they had
come back for the gun, which they had left behind them. As they picked
it up, it went off, and I was startled into one of my loudest screams.
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