1830.] MR. W. POWELL ON T£IK MORROOP, 493 



already laid, he fell asleep ; in the meanwhile the bird came to its 

 nest and laid its egg, but, when going away, got one of its legs 

 entangled in the noose. Thns the man who had the rope wouud 

 round his body was dragged along the ground, and, I suppose, struck 

 against a tree, which stunned or killed him. Both the body of the 

 man and the bird were found dead some days afterwards, still fastened 

 together by the rope, at some considerable distance from the nest 



ihe bones ot the Cassowary are used in many ways by the natives, 

 the leg-bones being prized to put on the butt end of spears to balance 

 them ; others ot the bones are used for spatulas, knives, &c The 

 feathers are made into head-dresses and brushes for drivin- flies 

 away The sharp-pointed claws from the toe are in one part of 

 New Britain used for points of spears, and are fastened on with wax 

 which when the spear is imbedded in the body melts, so that when 



in tirSesT ^^'* ''^ ^^^ ^^^^' '' '^'^'"' """^ *^'' ^°'" P°^"' '"''"^'"^ 

 These birds become quite domesticated and tame if kept about 

 a house, and will follow like a dog and feed out of the hand. 

 Ihey have a peculiar cry, beginning high and coming down the scale 

 about five notes. The natives have adopted this cry as their war- 

 ciy Ihe young ones make a whistling noise, also when feedin- 

 make a chirping something like a chicken, onlv considerably louder" 

 Ihe young on leaving the egg is left to shiit for itself, and does* 

 not join a flock until it attains maturity, which, the natives tell me 

 takes about five years The young bird is far from pretty, beia^ 

 covered with a light brown down, which grows darker as (he bird 

 ages, until it reaches the rich black of the full-grown bird The 

 wings are very small in comparison to its size, having no "pinion- 

 feathers, but in their place four black spine-quills, which the natives 

 prize to wear through the cartilage of the nose. The horny comb 

 on the head of the male bird is used by him for pushing its w^ 

 through the thick scrub, which is very dense in some places, hZl 

 often composed of the prickly palm and a creeping cane which i1 

 covered with sharp thorns, and which would, were it not for the 

 comb, tear the head of the bird. 



It is a curious fact that there is no Cassowary in New Ireland 



It oiily being distant from New Britain thirty miles, with Duke' 



of-York Island lying between them, which also has no Casso 



wary on it. I saw some fossil footprints on a large flat rock 



near the shore in New Ireland which appeared to me to be those of 



Cassowary s feet, being those of a large bird with only the three 



ront toes, which, it they should be Cassowary's footprints, tend to 



show that they must have been there at one time . u to 



The flesh of the Morroop is often eaten by the natives, and the oil 



that IS extracted from the fat is considered very valuable Is a re^eSy 



or rheumatism. Altogether the Cassowary is an extremely ZZ 



bird to the natives in every way, and would form a most interesting 



study to the naturalist. ^nieiesting 



