THE CASSOWARY. 189 



ing for the skin : but in the cassowary they are all of 

 the same kind, and outwardly of the same shade ; they 

 are generally double, having two long shafts growing 

 out of the short one, which is fixed in the skin ; and 

 some of these are fourteen inches in length, particu- 

 larly those which grow near the rump ; the stem, or 

 shaft, is black, knotted, and shining ; and from each 

 knot there proceeds a beard, which, towards the end, 

 is perfectly black, but near the root of a tawnoy grey: 

 the wings, when deprived of their feathers, are not 

 more than three inches in length, but the ends of them 

 are adorned with five prickles, the longest of which 

 measures about eleven in length: the head, though 

 small, and bare of feathers, is armed with a helmet, 

 composed of a horny substance that extends from the 

 root of the bill over the greatest part of it ; this hel- 

 met, which is black in front and yellow behind, con- 

 sists of several plates one over another, like the horn 

 <tf an ox, and gives the wearer a very fierce and for- 

 midable appearance : the eye is a bright yellow, large, 

 and fiery, encircled with small hairs, which answer the 

 purpose of a lid ; and above it there is a second row- 

 darker, which bears some resemblance to the human 

 brow : the beak extends to an amazing width, and on 

 each side hangs two fleshy substances not unlike the 

 gills of a cock : the neck is violet colour, but on the 

 back part there are spots of red ; and the skin upon its 

 breast is both bare and hard, inconsequence of its be- 

 ing the resting place on which the creature leans. 



The cassowary has been said to possess the head of 

 a warrior, the eye of a lion, the defence of a porcu- 

 pine, and the rleetness of a horse ; and though Nature 

 seems to have given weapons that might terrify others, 

 nothing can be more timid than itself: it never attacks 



