354 THE CASSOWARY. [CHAP. ix. 



Nova Hollandia ; it was first applied to the Horned 

 Cassowary, as may be seen in Albin *, who gives a very 

 good figure : " Two of these birds," he says, " were to 

 be seen (1738) at the George Tavern at Charing Cross, 

 to which place I went to draw them. Their food was 

 bread, flesh, fruit, &c., which they swallow very greedily, 

 having no tongue. They were brought by a Dutch 

 ship from Pallampank in Ea&t India." The Australian 

 bird was at first supposed to be the same as the Indian 

 Cassowary, and hence arose a temporary confusion of 

 terms. Thus, Sir Thomas Browne, writing to his son 

 Edward in 1680, says, " wee heare of two oestriges w ch 

 are brought from Tangier. I sawe one in the latter 

 end of King James his dayes, at Greenwich, when I was 

 a schoolboy. King Charles the first had a cassaware, or 

 emeu, whose fine green channelled egge I haue, and you 

 haue seen it. I doubt these will not bee showne at Bar- 

 tholomew fayre, where every one may see them for his 

 money." Dampier was unacquainted with the Austra- 

 lian Emeu. Writing in 1688, he states, " New Holland 

 is a very large tract of land. It is not yet determined 



whether it is an island or a main continent 



Here are a few small land birds, but none bigger than a 

 blackbird, and but few sea-fowls. "I 



The Emeu is especially interesting in these days, 

 from the rapidly impending destruction which threatens 

 it from the hands of European settlers. The Aborigines 

 would gladly preserve it, but the Englishman steps in, 

 and persists in exterminating the race. Even among 

 the savage natives in the interior of Australia, where, if 

 anywhere, we should expect to find an unlimited licence 



* Vol. ii. p. 56. f Account of the Philippines. 



