148 Prof. Schlegel on some Extinct Gigantic Birds 



Remains of these birds have not hitherto been found ; but we 

 know them from descriptions and a representation, which per- 

 haps may, if rightly understood, give a better and more complete 

 idea of these beings than the obscure sketch which can be ob- 

 tained of the New Zealand Moas through their numerous re- 

 maining bones. 



The description and representation of the largest species, 

 called by Leguat " Geant," is given by that traveller in his nar- 

 rative*, a work which, notwithstanding all my former trouble, 

 I have not been able to see till now, and then in both editions 

 together. Before we consider these important documents more 

 closely, we will first examine how far their author deserves the 

 trustworthiness we ascribe to him. To do this properly we 

 must give a concise account of the life and labours of this little- 

 known man, who has deserved the thanks of science. 



FRAN901S Leguat, a French gentleman of the then small 

 province of Bresset, in Burgundy, after being deprived of his 

 liberty for four years, through the revocation of the Edict of 

 Nantes, was compelled at last to quit his native country. Like 

 many other French refugees of that time he repaired to Holland, 

 where he arrived 6th August, 1689. Here he learned that the 

 Marquis du Quesne, with the consent of the States General and 

 the Directors of the East India Company, was equipping two 

 vessels, in which the French protestants who wished to leave 

 Europe were to be conveyed to the island of Bourbon, there to 

 establish a colony |. This enterprise became known §; and for fear 

 of a fleet 1| which the King of France was going to send to this 



* Voyage et Avantuxes cle Francois Leguat, et de ses Compagnons, en 

 deux isles desertes des ludes orientales. Londi-es, 1708. 2 vols., 8vo 

 [12mo]. An English version of this work, in one volume, was published 

 in London the same year. 



t Op. cit. i. p. 157. t Ibid. i. pp. 1, 2. 



§ Ibid. i. p. 69. 



II Over this fleet of six vessels was set M. Guiton du Quesne, cousin to 

 our Marquis. The account of the voyage, which lasted from 1690 to 

 1691, is only known to me in English under the title of ' A New Voyage 

 to the East Indies by Mons. Duquesne." London, 1696. 1 vol., 12mo. 

 Afterwards appeared the journal of an unknown person who had partici- 

 pated in it, under the title of ' Joiu-nal d'un Voyage fait aux Indes orien- 



