w 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 bus