64 ON THE AUSTRALIAN CASSOWARY : BY A. MESTON. 



Cassowaries are very fond of bathing, and I have seen them 

 frequently plunging and fluttering their plumes, and throwing 

 somersaults in shallow pools. Occasionally they are attacked 

 and killed by crocodiles. They are frequently caught and 

 drowned in the valleys by the sudden floods in the creeks and 

 rivers. Many were drowned on the Mulgrave River in the flood 

 of 1890. Several bodies of large cassowaries were found after 

 the waters subsided. 



On the Johnstone, Russell, Mulgrave, and Barron rivers, the 

 cassowary is known to the blacks as " Boondarra," " Keendadja," 

 " Bomba," " Boomboom," and " Goombijan." The bird is eaten 

 in all stages, from the egg to the full-grown specimen. In 

 the tribe of " Bolambi," on the Mulgrave River, I found one 

 class had the cassowary as a totem, and of course was prohibited 

 from eating the egg or the flesh. The class was named " Keen- 

 dadja " after the bird. 



The New Guinea natives make daggers and spear butt-ends 

 from the leg bones, and use the plumage for decorative purposes. 

 The North Queensland natives rarely use the plumage, and 

 make no use of the bones. 



The cassowary accumulates an immense amount of oil, 

 especially from November to March, and I have obtained six or 

 seven quarts from one bird. The skin is covered by fat and very 

 difficult to preserve. The oil rather increases than prevents rust 

 on articles of steel. It is extremely effective for stift" joints or 

 contracted muscles. 



Professor Owen regarded the cassowary as the nearest living 

 representative of the ancient PalapU'riix, or Dittoi-nia, a genus of 

 extinct-gigantic birds which included the Moa of New Zealand. 

 The present living representatives of the once mighty order of 

 Batita', are the African ostrich, the South American rhea, the 

 Australian emu, the New Zealand apteryx, and the cassowary. 



Two species of Dwmaius {D. patiicim and D. tp-iicUipes), 

 contemporary with the Diptrodon, have been found on the Dar- 

 ling Downs, and named by Mr. De \is of the Queensland 

 Museum, but no fossil cassowary remains have been recognised 

 in Australia. 



