On account of the intense heat
everything is brought alive to the market, and the quacking, cackling,
gobbling, and crowing that go on are really marvellous. The whole
street is alive with birds in baskets, cages, and coops, or tied by
the leg and thrown down anyhow. There were curious pheasants and
jungle-fowl from Perak, doves, pigeons, quails, besides cockatoos,
parrots, parrakeets, and lories. They are all very tame and very
cheap; and some of the scarlet lories, looking like a flame of fire,
chatter in the most amusing way. I have a cage full of tiny parrots
not bigger than bullfinches, of a dark green colour, with dark red
throats and blue heads, yellow marks on the back, and red and yellow
tails. Having bought these, everybody seemed to think that I wanted an
unlimited supply of birds, and soon we were surrounded by a chattering
crowd, all with parrots in their hands and on their shoulders. It was
a very amusing sight, though rather noisy, and the competition reduced
the prices very much. Parrakeets ranged from twelve to thirty cents
apiece, talking parrots and cockatoos from one to five dollars. At
last the vendors became so energetic that I was glad to get into the
gharry again, and drive away to a flower shop, where we bought some
gardenias for one penny a dozen, beautifully fresh and fragrant, but
with painfully short stalks.
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