54 A HISTORY OF 



ing, this contributes not a little to the bird's menacing appearance 

 The neck is of a violet colour, inclining to thut of slate ; and it is red 

 behind in several places, but chiefly in the middle. About the middle 

 of the neck before, at the rise of the large feathers, there are two pro- 

 cesses formed by the skin, which resemble somewhat the gills of a 

 cock, but that they are blue as well as red. The skin which covers 

 the fore-part of the breast, on which this bird leans and rests, is hard, 

 callous, and without feathers. The thighs and legs are covered with 

 feathers, and are extremely thick, strong, straight, and covered with 

 scales of several shapes ; but the legs are thicker a little above the 

 foot than in any other place. The toes are likewise covered with 

 scales, and are but three in number ; for that which should be behind 

 is wanting. The claws are of a hard solid substance, black without 

 and white within. 



The internal parts are equally remarkable. The cassowary unites 

 with the double stomach of animals that live upon vegetables, the short 

 intestines of those that live upon flesh. The intestines of the casso- 

 wary are thirteen times shorter than those of the ostrich. The heart 

 is very small, being but an inch and a half long, and an inch broad at 

 the base. Upon the whole, it has the head of a warrior, the eye of a 

 lion, the defence of a porcupine, and the swiftness of a courser. 



Thus formed for a life of hostility, for terrifying others, and for its 

 own defence, it might be expected that the cassowary was one of the 

 most fierce and terrible animals of the creation. But nothing is so op- 

 posite to its natural character, nothing so different from the life it is 

 contented to lead. It never attacks others ; and, instead of the bill, 

 when attacked, it rather makes use of its legs, and kicks like a horse, 

 or runs against its pursuer, beats him down, and treads him to the 

 ground. 



The manner of going of this animal is not less extraordinary than 

 its appearance. Instead of going directly forward, it seems to kick up 

 behind with one leg, and then making a bound onward with the other, 

 it goes with such prodigious velocity, that the swiftest racer would be 

 left far behind. 



The same degree of voraciousness which we perceive in the ostrich, 

 obtains as strongly here. The cassowary swallows every thing that 

 comes within the capacity of its gullet. The Dutch assert, that it can 

 devour not only glass, iron, and stones, but even live and burning 

 coals, without testifying the smallest fear, or feeling (he least injury. 

 It is said, that the passage of the food through its gullet is performed 

 so speedily, that even the very eggs which it has swallowed whole, 

 pass through it unbroken, in the same form they went down. In fact, 

 the alimentary canal of this animal, as was observed above, is extreme- 

 ly short ; and it may happen that many kinds of food are indigestible 

 in its stomach, as wheat or currants are to man when si-allowed 

 whole. 



The cassowary's eggs are of a grey ash colour, inclining to green. 

 They are not so large nor so round as those of the ostrich. They are 

 marked with a number of little tubercles of a deep green, and the shell 

 is not very thick. The largest of these is found to be fifteen inches 

 round one way, and about twelve the other 



