THE DODO. 55 



The southern parts of the most eastern Indies seem to be the natu 

 ral climate of the cassowary. His domain, if we may so call it, be- 

 gins where that of the ostrich terminates. The latter has never been 

 found beyond the Ganges ; while the cassowary is never seen nearer 

 than the islands of Banda, Sumatra, Java, the Molucca Islands, and 

 the corresponding parts of the continent. Yet even here this animal 

 seems not to have multiplied in any considerable degree, as we find 

 one of the kings ff Java making a present of one of these birds to the 

 captain of a Dutch ship, considering it as a very great rarity. The 

 ostrich, that has kept in the desert and unpeopled regions of Africa, is 

 still numerous, and the unrivalled tenant of its own inhospitable cli- 

 mate. But the cassowary, that is the inhabitant of a more peopled 

 and polished region, is growing scarcer every day. It is thus that in 

 proportion as man multiplies, all the savage and noxious animals fly 

 before him : at his approach they quit their ancient habitations, ho\r 

 adapted soever they may be to their natures, and seek a more peace- 

 able, though barren, retreat ; where they willingly exchange plenty fo 

 freedom, and encounter all the dangers of famine, to avoid the oppre* 

 of ah unrelenting destroyer. 



CHAPTER TO 



THE DODO. 



MANKIND have generally made swiftness the attribute of birds; but 

 the dodo has no title to this distinction. Instead of exciting the idea 

 of swiftness by its appearance, it seems to strike the imagination as a 

 thing the most unwieldy and inactive of all nature. Its body is mas- 

 sive, almost round, and covered with gray feathers ; it is just barely 

 supported upon two short thick legs, like pillars, while its head and 

 neck rise from it in a manner truly grotesque. The neck, thick and 

 pursy, is joined to the head, which consists nf two great chaps, that 

 open far behind the eyes, which are targe, black, and prominent ; so 

 that the animal, when it gapes, seems to be all mouth. The bill, 

 therefore, is of an extraordinary length, not flat and broad, but thick, 

 and of a bluish white, sharp at the end, and each chap crooked in op- 

 posite directions. They resemble two pointed spoons that are laid 

 together by the backs. From all this results a stupid and voracious 

 physiognomy, which is still more increased by a bordering of feathers 

 round the root of the beak, and which gives the appearance of a hood 

 or cowl, and finish this picture of stupid deformity. Bulk, which in 

 other animals implies strength, in this only contributes to inactivity. 

 The ostrich, or the cassowary, are no more able to fly than the ani- 

 mal before us ; but then they supply that defect by their speed in 

 running. The dodo seems weighed down by its own heaviness, and 

 VOL. III. E 



