By the way, I never introduced the bow as a weapon among the blacks, and they, on their part, never tried to imitate me.

They are a conservative race, and are perfectly satisfied with their own time-honoured weapons.
Wild geese and ducks were plentiful in those regions, and there was an infinite variety of game.

From this you will gather that our daily fare was both ample and luxurious.
And we had pets; I remember I once caught a live cockatoo, and trained him to help me in my hunting expeditions.

I taught him a few English phrases, such as "Good-morning," and "How are you ?"; and he would perch himself on a tree and attract great numbers of his kind around him by his incessant chattering.

I would then knock over as many as I wanted by means of my bow and arrows.