The 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th of April passed in this manner,
without any incident to mark the journey. They did not make more than
eight to nine miles in twelve hours. The times consecrated to eating or
repose came at regular intervals, and though a little fatigue was felt
already, the sanitary condition was still very satisfactory.

Little Jack began to suffer a little from this life in the woods, to
which he was not accustomed, and which was becoming very monotonous for
him. And then all the promises which had been made him had not been
kept. The caoutchouc jumping-jacks, the humming-birds, all those seemed
constantly to recede. There had also been a question of showing him the
most beautiful parrots in the world, and they ought not to be wanting
in these rich forests. Where, then, were the popinjays with green
plumage, almost all originally from these countries, the _aras_, with
naked cheeks, with long pointed tails, with glittering colors, whose
paws never rest on the earth, and the "camindes," which are more
peculiar to tropical countries, and the many-colored she-parrots, with
feathered faces, and finally all those prattling birds which, according
to the Indians, still speak the language of extinct tribes?

Of parrots, little Jack only saw ash-gray jakos, with red tails, which
abounded under the trees. But these jakos were not new to him. They
have transported them into all parts of the world. On the two
continents they fill the houses with their insupportable chattering,
and, of all the family of the "psittacius," they are the ones which
learn to speak most easily.

It must be said, besides, that if Jack was not contented, Cousin
Benedict was no more so. He had been allowed to wander a little to the
right or to the left during the march. However, he had not found any