184 MR. W. J. BRODERIP ON THE DODO. 



tuerlijcke Reyse van Willem Ysbrantsz Bontekoe van Hoorn, gedaen nae Oost- 

 Indien,' published in quarto at Amsterdam, by Gillis Joosten Zaagman. There is no 

 date ; but from a narrative introduced at the end, it must be subsequent (probably by a 

 year or two) to 1646. The narrative is nearly a verbatim version of the other Dutch 

 editions of Bontekoe ; and the only variation of text which concerns us, is in the state- 

 ment that the underside of the Dodo dragged along the ground, which is here qualified 

 thus : — 'sleepte haer de neers hy na (i.e. almost) langs de Aerde.' But what gives a 

 peculiar interest to this volume is, that it contains (alone of all the editions of Bontekoe 

 which I have seen) a figure of the Dodo, which I here present." Then follows the cut. 



"This highly ludicrous representation," continues Mr. Strickland, "is more like a 

 fighting cock than a Dodo ; and the black letter of the Dutch text omits to tell us whether 

 this design was due to the pencil of Bontekoe or his publisher Zaagman, or whether 

 it was copied from some contemporary painting now forgotten. But there can be no 

 doubt that this figure refers to the true Dodo of Mauritius, and not to the ' Solitaire ' 

 of Bourbon, with which Bontekoe confounded it. 



" We may regret that the rudeness of the original woodcut leaves us in the dark as 

 to the nature of the object on which the Dodo appears about to feed. This figure would 

 pass equally well for a testaceous mollusk, or for an arboreal fruit ; so that the problem 

 of the Dodo's food seems as far from a solution as ever." 



In Wolfgangh's pubhcation, p. 480, is the following description : — 



"Op't Eyiandt Mauritius in Oost-Indien, als mede op sommige andere plaetsen 

 gelijck mede in West-Indien, vindt men voegels soo groot als Swanen, die men 

 Dodaersen of Dronten noemt, sy hebben groote hoofden, en daer op een velleken 

 in manier van een Kapken, sy hebben geen vleugels, dan in plaetsvan dien, 3 of 4 

 swarte pennekens, en daer haer staert behoorde te staen, daer Zijn 4 of 5 gekrulde 

 Pluymkens, van graeuwachtige verwe. Sy hebben een dicke ronde Naers, daer uyt 

 het schijnt, dat haer de naem van Dodaers toe gekomen is; in de maegh hebben 

 sy gemeenlijck een Steen van een vuyst groot, dese is bruyn, graeuw van verwe, 

 en vol gaetkens, en hollingheydt, doch soo hart als grauwe Bentemeer-steen. Het 

 Boots-volck van Jacob van Neck, noemdense Walgh-vogels, om datse die niet recht 

 gaer of murruw konden koken : of om datse soo veel Tortel-duyven konden bekomen, 

 die leckerdev smaeckten, datse van dese Dod-aersen de walgh kregen. Aen 3 of 4 

 van dese Vogels had al't Scheeps volck van een Schip, voor een maeltijdt genoegh 

 t' eeten : Dese Dod-aersen hebbense oock ingesouten en op de reys mede genomen." 



This description may be thus rendered ; — 



"In the island of Mauritius in the East Indies, as also in sundry other places, like- 

 wise in the West Indies, men find birds as big as swans, which they call Dod-aerses or 

 Brontes. They have large heads, upon the top of which is a skin (a little skin- 

 membrane) in the shape of a cap (little cap). They have no wings, but in the place of 

 them there are three or four black feathers ; and there where the tail should be, there 



