hours we continued our
journey pretty steadily, encountering no living thing, except tern,
gannets, and other sea-birds, and one troop of gaudy little paroquets,
glittering in green, and orange, and crimson. These paroquets were the
only land-birds we saw during the day. Max pronounced them "frights,"
because of their large hooked bills, and harsh discordant cries. They
certainly gave Johnny, a terrible "fright," and indeed startled us all a
little, by suddenly taking wing, with loud, hoarse screams, from a
hibiscus, beneath which we were resting, without having observed that
they were perched over our heads.

When it was near noon, and we had travelled, as we supposed, making
allowance for delays and deviations, some six or eight miles, the
character of the shore suddenly changed. The white, shelving beach, and
the dense groves meeting it near the water, now disappeared, and were
succeeded by an open strip of land, bordering the lagoon, strewed with
huge, irregular fragments of coral rock, and seamed with gullies. The
line of the forest here receded some distance from the shore, leaving a
broad rounded point, embracing a large area of low and barren ground,
covered thinly with a growth of stunted shrubs, and a few straggling,
solitary looking trees. The lagoon was at this point quite shallow, and
low rocks and coral patches appeared above the surface, at short
distances apart, nearly to the centre of the channel. The reef
opposite, was entirely under water, and its position was indicated only
by a line of breakers. A large portion of the point, comprising several
acres, was covered with the rude nests of various aquatic birds. Many
of these nests were occupied even at that hour, and the birds seemed in
no wise alarmed, or even disturbed by our approach. When we came very
close to any of them, they would survey us with an air half angry, and
half inquisitive, stretching out their long necks; and screwing their
heads from side to side, so as to obtain a view of us first with one
eye, and then with the other; this seeming to be considered
indispensable to a complete and satisfactory understanding of our
character and intentions. After a thorough scrutiny, they would resume
their former appearance of stupid indifference, as though we were
creatures altogether too unimportant to merit further notice. They all,
without exception, seemed perfectly tame and fearless, and quite ready
to resent any infringement upon