brother—the same young man who had attached himself to me and acted as my cicerone in showing me many of the curious ways and institutions of the country. During my morning visits I usually found the ladies occupied in reading, or engaged in some pretty fancy-work for the embellishment of their house.
The young lady, whose name was Lily, had several pets. She had a cage containing several pairs of the beautiful little paradise or peacock fish, with their brilliant spots and bands of red and green, and their quaintly-cut fins and tails. The habits of these pretty creatures are interesting and amusing. The male gathers up in his mouth the eggs deposited by the female, and conveys them to a nest he has built, and over which he forms a canopy, studded with innumerable air-bubbles, which glisten like gems, and which are emitted from his mouth. The vivacity with which he defends the nest and its contents against all comers, and even against the female whom he drives away if ever she ventures to approach the nest, was a constant source of amusement. The only creature he did not attack was his pretty mistress, who might approach her hand as near the nest as she liked, without any display of irritation on the part of its faithful guardian.
In another cage were some large lobsters, whose singular gait and voracious appetites were very funny.
Her favourite pet, however, was a very diminutive seal, which gambolled about her like a spaniel, and displayed the most lively affection. She could not train this animal to use the breathing tubes, so it had frequently to go to the air-reservoir in the ceiling to breathe or to the surface of the water when out of doors.
