The two green paroquets, 'Coco' and 'Meta,' given to me by Mr. Fisher
at Rosario, have turned out dear little pets, with the most amusing
ways. They are terrible thieves, especially of sugar, pencils, pens,
and paper, and being nearly always at liberty, they follow me about
just like dogs, and coax and caress me with great affection. They do
not care much for any one else, though they are civil to all and
good-tempered even to the children, who, I am afraid, rather bore them
with their attempts at petting. The other foreign birds, of which I
have a large collection, are doing well, and I begin to hope I shall
get them home safely after all. We had at one time about twenty
parrots, belonging to the men, on board, all running about on deck
forward, with their wings clipped, but about half of them have been
lost overboard. The dogs keep their health and spirits wonderfully.
Félise is quite young again, and she and Lulu have great games,
tearing up and down and around the decks as hard as they can go.

_Sunday, November 19th_.--I am convalescent at last, and appeared at
breakfast this morning for the first time for ten days.

The wind was very variable throughout the day. Between 6 and 7 a.m. we
were going twelve knots; between 7 and 8 only three; but as we never
stop, we manage to make up a fair average on the whole.

At eleven o'clock we had the Communion Service and two hymns. At
midday the week's work was made up, with the following result. Our
position was in lat. 15° 38' S., long. 117° 52' W.; we were 3,057
miles from Valparaiso,--1,335 of which had been accomplished since
last Sunday,--and 1,818 miles from Tahiti.

To-day we were not far from Easter Island, the southernmost island of