ate appetite.
While we were eating it, we discussed the best plan for keeping our
eggs.

"What do you say to trying to hatch some of them?" said Oliver. "We may
then have some poultry about us, as I suppose, if we were to begin when
the birds are first hatched, we might tame them, and then, in case of
necessity, we may kill them for food."

There appeared to be no great difficulty in imitating the parents' way
of building. We therefore constructed a mound, similar in character to
the one we had discovered, and placed half-a-dozen eggs at the same
depth that we had found them. And, as far as we could recollect, in the
same position. The others were hung up in the air on the branch of a
tree in baskets, that they might be kept as cool as possible, hoping
thus that they would remain fit for food till they were exhausted.

"What cause we have to be thankful!" said Oliver. "See tow bountifully
we are supplied with food; and the care thus taken of us by a kind
Providence should make us trust that we may some day be rescued from our
position, and restored to our friends."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

THE TREASURES OF OUR ISLAND.

The next morning, as we took our way to the sago wood, our ears were
saluted by the loud cries of some of the birds of paradise; and looking
up, we saw a vast number of them collected on the tops of some lofty
trees in the forest, having immense heads of wide-spreading branches
with scanty foliage, though with large leaves. Suddenly the birds began
to move about in the most extraordinary manner, stretching out their
necks, raising their beautifully-tinted plumes, and elevating their
wings, which they kept in a continual state of vibration. Now they flew
from branch to branch backwards and forwards, so that the trees appeared
filled with waving plumes, and every variety of form and colour. "Why,
they are dancing in the air!" exclaimed Oliver; and truly it seemed as
if they were expressly performing a dance for our entertainment. The
wings appeared to be raised directly over the back. The head was
stretched out, bending downwards; and the long hinder feathers were
elevated and expanded, forming two superb golden fans, striped with deep
red at the base, and fading away into the pale brown tint of the body.
Their heads were yellow, their throat emerald-green--though even the
bright tints were scarcely perceptible amid the rich golden glory which
waved above them. They appeared to be of the si