ut his impressions and deductions into the
form of a paper which he intended to submit to the National Geographic
Magazine as soon as he returned to the United States.

The more practical Mr. Fitts decided to start a squab farm.

A few of the giant iguanas were seen, and many smaller ones. The meat
of the iguana is a great delicacy. There were no beasts of prey, no
herbaceous animals.

Lookouts on Top o' the Morning Peak reported the presence of monstrous
birds at rare intervals. Where they came from and whither they went no
one could tell. There were unscalable cliffs and crags at the western
end of the island, and it is possible that they had their nests among
them.

Lieutenant Platt described the first of these huge birds as being at
least thirty feet from tip to tip. It flew low above the top of Split
Mountain and disappeared beyond the hills to the west. When first
descried by one of the lookouts, this bird was far out over the ocean,
approaching the island from the east. As it soared over the heads of the
men, several hundred feet above them, its wings full spread, it was more
like a small monoplane than a bird. In colour it was a dirty yellow,
with a black belly and head. Before any one could procure a gun from the
hut it was out of range, flying at an incredible speed. A few days later
another was seen, coming from the same direction. It was flying much
higher, and a few futile shots were fired at it. Then, after a week or
ten days without a single one of the monsters being seen, five of them
appeared in the west and flew eastward over the island and out to sea.

"What was the name of that passenger-carrying bird they were always
talking about in the 'Arabian Nights'?" inquired Platt.

"You mean the roc," replied Knapendyke. "If it ever really existed
outside of the fairy tales, it is now extinct. The nearest thing to it
in size is the condor, I suppose."

"I've seen some whopping big condors up in the Andes," said Percival,
"but twelve feet from tip to tip was what the natives called a
full-grown specimen. What do you make of these birds, Flattner?"

"After seeing an iguana eighteen feet long, I'm ready to believe
anything. A protracted and an enforced spell of sobriety is the only
thing that keeps me from diagnosing my own case as delirium tremens.
There's one thing sure. Birds as big as these, and iguanas as huge as
the three we've seen,--to say nothing of the enormous flying fish Morris
Shine claims