406 THE OSTRICH AND THE CASSOWARY 



in the course of an afternoon, besides a copious allowance of 

 flour and fat. According to the taste of this Swedish Nimrod, 

 they afford an excellent repast ; while Dr. Livingstone tells us 

 they have a strong disagreeable flavour, which only the keen 

 appetite of the desert can reconcile one to. " The Hottentots 

 use their trousers to carry home the twenty or twenty-five eggs 

 usually found in a nest ; and it has happened that an English- 

 man, intending to imitate this knowing dodge, comes to the 

 wagons with blistered legs, and, after great toil, finds all the 

 eggs uneatable from having been some time sat upon." 



Even the egg-shell has its value, and is an excellent vessel for 

 holding liquids of any kind. The Bushmen have hardly any 

 other household utensil. By covering it with a light network 

 it may be carried slung across the saddle. Grrass and wood 

 serve as substitutes for corks. 



The flesh of the ostrich is decidedly*'coarse, but as there is 

 no accounting for tastes, the Eomans seem to have prized it ; 

 and Firmus, one of their pseudo-emperors, most likely desirous 

 of emulating the gormandising powers of the bird on which he 

 fed, is said to have devoured a whole ostrich at one sitting. 



Though not possessing the true camel-bird, America has the 

 large Rheas, which from their size and similar habits have 

 been styled the ostriches of the New World, though differing in 

 many essential characters. One species, the Rhea Darwinii, 

 inhabits Patagonia, while the Emu or Nandu {Rhea Americana) 

 is found throughout the whole eastern part of South America, 

 from Buenos Ayres to the Orinoco, wherever open plains, pam- 

 pas, campos, or savannas, invite it to take up its residence. 

 The nandu is not near so tall as the true ostrich, scarcely 

 rising above four feet, and is of a uniform grey colour except 

 on the back, which has a brown tint. The back and rump 

 are furnished with long feathers, but not of the same rich 

 and costly kind as those which adorn the African ostrich. Its 

 feeble wings merely serve to accelerate its flight, serving it as 

 oars or sails, particularly when running with the wind. " It is 

 not easily caught," says the Prince of Neu Wied, " as it not only 

 runs very fast, but in zigzag lines, so that the horse, rendered 

 giddy by so many evolutions, at length drops down with its rider." 



The Indian Archipelago and New Holland have likewise 

 their peculiar struthionidous birds. 



