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"But we soon had to give up speculating about the prospect ahead, and had to let the Rock of Good Hope, and the hut, and the life we had led there, with its struggles and trials and triumphs, pass away as some vaguely remembered dream; for on we sped, with our caravan of sledges, over the frozen sea, the dogs all lively, and galloping away with their bushy tails curled over their backs, and their heads up; their savage drivers crying to them, now and then, 'Ka-ka! ka-ka! and snapping their whips to keep them at a brisker run, and all the while talking to each other in a loud voice, sometimes, as we could clearly understand, about ourselves, sometimes whether they should go off on a bear-hunt.
The olive and brown, hoarse-voiced ka-ka, a large, wild parrot, and green, crimson-headed parakeets, may swell the list. Such is a "papa" river! and there are many such.
It was all so new and so delightful to me, the green gloom, the hoarse croak of the ka-ka, as it alighted almost at our feet and prepared, quite careless of our vicinity, to tear up the loose soil at the root of a tall tree, in search of grubs. It is a species of parrot, but with very dingy reddish-brown plumage, only slightly enlivened by a few, scarlet feathers in the wing.
Man, sledge, dogs, and all passed us quickly by, the man shouting more excitedly than ever to his dogs, sometimes calling them by name, as it seemed to us, and sometimes crying 'Nen-ook, nen-ook! and sometimes, 'Ka-ka! ka-ka! and so away they went, rushing like the wind, the whole scene more strange than strangest dream, the dogs and man like spectral things, so quickly had they come and so unexpectedly; or, at the least, the dogs seemed like howling wolves, and the man a wild man of the frozen ocean, clothed in wild beasts' skins.
They were solemnly led by a painted and shell-bedecked priest, and followed by the torch-bearing Shu-lu-wit-si or God of Fire. After they had vanished, I asked old brother what it all meant. "'They are going, said he, 'to the city of Ka-ka and the home of our others.
Now listen, Doctor, and I'll tell you something. Did you know that animals can talk?" "I knew that parrots can talk," said the Doctor. "Oh, we parrots can talk in two languages people's language and bird-language," said Polynesia proudly. "If I say, 'Polly wants a cracker, you understand me. But hear this: Ka-ka oi-ee, fee-fee?" "Good Gracious!" cried the Doctor. "What does that mean?"
The sweet clear whistle of the tui or parson-bird so called from his glossy black suit and white wattles curling exactly where a clergy-man's bands would be, could be heard at a distance; whilst overhead the soft cooing of the wild pigeons, and the hoarse croak of the ka-ka or native parrot, made up the music of the birds' orchestra.
"Why," said the Indian, in a low sweet tone, "why does the Pale Face still follow the track of the Red Man? Why does he pursue him, even as O-kee chow, the wild cat, chases Ka-ka, the skunk? Why are the feet of Sorrel-top, the white chief, among the acorns of Muck-a-Muck, the mountain forest?
"Why," said the Indian, in a low sweet tone, "why does the Pale Face still follow the track of the Red Man? Why does he pursue him, even as O-kee-chow, the wild-cat, chases Ka-ka, the skunk? Why are the feet of Sorrel-top, the white chief, among the acorns of Muck-a-muck, the mountain forest?
The man was encouraging them along all he could with a long whip, which he threw out with a lively snap, exclaiming, 'Ka-ka! ka-ka! over and over again; and then, 'Nen-ook, nen-ook, nen-ook! many times repeated; for he was now so near that we could distinguish every word he said.
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