FLORA, FAUNA, AND LANGUAGE. 
323 
excited amongst the savants of Europe, by the 
communication to the Academy of France of the 
discovery in 1850, in Madagascar, of a bird's 
egg, the capacity or contents of which was equal 
to those of six ostrich's eggs or of 148 eggs of the 
common fowl. Some remains of the bones of a 
huge bird were also found about the same time, 
and the scientific and learned world were for some 
time perplexed with the natural-history problem 
which these presented. Some gave it as their 
opinion that they were the remains of a gigantic 
penguin; others, amongst them Professor Bian- 
coni of Bologna, sought to prove that they were 
parts of a bird of prey of the “ roc ” genus, of 
Arabian romance,—-an eagle large enough to 
carry off a bullock or young elephant in its 
claws. Marco Polo mentioned a report of the 
people in the island that, at a certain season 
yearly, a large bird appeared from the south, 
which they called the rukh. That the Epyor- 
nis, a bird of large size and power, did exist in 
Madagascar at the time that the Dodo was flour¬ 
ishing in the neighbouring island of Mauritius, 
is tolerably certain. Many remains of this gigan¬ 
tic bustard or cassowary have at different periods 
been secured, and may now be examined in the 
Jarclin des Plantes and elsewhere. 
The language of the Malagasy is peculiarly 
sweet, and is easily learnt. It is very soft and 
