not talk.

But it occurs to me that two such extraordinary characters deserve
description.

First come, first served. The external appearance of Pippity was
gorgeous in the extreme. His wings, green, red-spotted, were tipped with
golden yellow, while the most delicate flush of iridescent colors
suffused his back, neck and breast; his toes in pairs, two forward and
two back, like those of all other parrots; a bill and tongue exactly
formed for speech; eyes in observation keen; and a bearing dignified and
commanding.

Grilly, of course, had not so gay an exterior; yet he had a handsome
clothing of soft, fine hair; a gentle, intelligent eye; a head
exceedingly well formed, round and full, with prominent forehead;
handsome moustache and full stylish whiskers; an expression winning and
full of animation; a carriage elegant and graceful; and, withal, he was
astonishingly expert with tail and hands and feet.

The time now coursed smoothly and happily along, Pippity entertaining us
with his lively prattle, and Grilly, full of his antics and his
learning, affording a never-failing fund of amusement. Nor did he ever
omit, when the supply of cocoa-nuts was about exhausted, to go down and
assemble his tribe, who forthwith took their places up the height,
passed the nuts one to another, and, when they deemed we had enough,
dispersed to their own wild homes of sylvan shade.

One day Grilly was amusing himself turning over some stones that lay in
a little heap in one corner of our vast chamber. I had always thought it
strange that they were the only loose stones to be found either in the
cavern or in the neighborhood, but had never troubled myself any further
about them. Seeing Grilly busy with them, I thought I would join him in
his work or sport, and in a little time we had the pile reduced to the
floor. There, I saw, was a square slab, having on it certain characters
and a drawing of a serpent held firmly in the talons of a condor. These
symbols excited my curiosity not a little, and I noticed that the stone,
which was about three feet square, was loosely resting in its place. I
managed to pry it up, and found a dark cavity beneath. It was nearly
square, but of its depth I could not judge, owing to the darkness. To
satisfy myself on this point, I got a very long stem of one of those
gigantic grasses that grow in the tropics, and, letting it down, found
the hole to be about forty feet deep. I felt a great desire to descend
int