long, yellowish next the head, with a black point. The upper mandible was hooked, the
lower had a bluish spot in the middle between the yellow and black part, the bird was
covered with thin and short feathers, the hinder part was very fat and fleshy, the legs were
thick, covered to the knee with black feathers, the feet yellowish, the toes three before and
one behind. He further states, that stones were found in the gizzards of these birds, and
that he saw two of these stones in Holland, one of which, about an inch in length, he has
figured. His original words are as follows
“ Cap. IV. Gallmaceus Gall/us peregrinità. Ex octo navibus illis quee anno 1598, Aprili mense,
ex Hollandiä solvebant, &c., quinqne . . . . montosam quandam insulam in conspectu habuerunt, ad
quam lsetabundi cursum converterunt Dum in insula hserent, varii generis aves observabant ;
atque inter illas valdè peregrinam, cujus iconem rudi arte delineatam in Diario totam illius navigationis
historiam continente, quod reduces cudi curabant, conspiciebam, ad cujus normam est expressa quam
hoc capiti propono. •
“ Dia porro avis peregrina Cygnum quidem magnitudine sequabat aut superabat, sed ejus forma
longè diversa: ejus etenim caput magnum, tectum veluti quàdam membrana cucullum referente;
rostrum prseterea non planum, sed crassum et oblongum, subflavi coloris parte capiti proximà, cujus
extimus .mucro niger, superior quidem ejus pars sive prona adunca et curva, in inferiore verò sive
supinà subcserulea macula mediam partem inter flavam et nigram occupabat. Raris et brevibus pennis
tectam esse aiebant, et alis carere, sed earum loco quatemas aut quinas dumtaxat longiusculas nigras
pennas habere: posteriorem autem corporis partem prsepinguenl et valdè crassam, in qua pro caudà
quatemae aut quinae crispae convolutaeque pennulse cineracei coloris : crura illi potiùs crassa esse quàm
longa, quorum superna pars genu tenus nigris pennulis tecta, inferior cum pedibus subflavi coloris ;
pedes verò in quatuor digitos fuisse divisos, temos longiores antrorsùm spectantes, quartum breviorem
retrorsùm conversimi, omnesque nigris unguibus prseditos.................... Nautae huic avi nomen indebant
suo idiomate Walgh-vogel, hoc est, nauseam movens avis, partim quod post diuturnam elixationem,
ejus caro non fieret tenerior, sed dura permaneret et difflcilis concoctionis, (excepto ejus pectore et
ventriculo, quae non contemnendi saporis esse comperiebant,) partim quod multos turtures nancisci
poterant, quos delicatiores et ori magis gratos reperiebant : nihil igitur mirum si prae illis hanc avem con-
temnerent, et eà se facile carere posse dicerent. In ejus porrò ventriculo quosdam lapillos inventos
aiebant, quorum binos hue perlatos conspiciebam apud omatissimum virum Christianum Porretum
eosque diversae formae, unum plenum et orbicularem, alterum inaequalem et angulosum, ilium uncialis
magnitudinis, quern juxta pedes avis exprimendum curabam, hunc majorem et graviorem, utrumque
cineracei coloris; eos ab ave in maris littore lectos, deinde devoratos fuisse verisimile est, non in ejus
ventriculo natos.”—Exotica, p. 99.
2. In 1601 two fleets of Dutch ships, one commanded by Wolphart Harmansen, or
Harmansz, and the other by Jacob Van Heemskerk, sailed for the East Indies, but soon
separated. Harmansen’s ships touched at Mauritius in their way, but in the published
accounts of his voyage no mention of Dodos occurs. His companion Heemskerk, however,
remained nearly three months in Mauritius, on his homeward voyage in 1602, and in a journal
kept by Reyer Cornelisz, and printed in the ‘ Begin ende voortgang van de Vereenighde
Nederlantsche Geoctroyeerde Oostindische Compagnie’ (oblong 4to, 1646, s. 1.) vol. i., at
p. 30 of Van der Hagen’s Voyage, we read of “ Wallichvogels ” or Dodos, among a variety
of other game:—
“ Op het lant cmthouden haer Schiltpadden, Wattichcogels, Flamencos, Gansen, Eendt-vogels
Velt-hoenders, soo groot as kleyne Indiaensche Ravens, Duyven, daer onder sommighe met roo steerten,
(van de welcke menig man sieek geweest is,) grauwe ende groene Papegayen, met lange steerten, waer
van datter sommighe ghevangen werden.”
3. One of the Captains who sailed in the fleet of Heemskerk and Harmansz, named Willem
van West-Zanen, has left a journal, which apparently was not published until 1648, when it
was edited and enlarged by H. Soeteboom.1 In 1602 Willem sailed from Batavia with five
richly laden ships, commanded by Admiral Schuurmans, and stayed a considerable time at
Mauritius.2 He makes repeated mention of Dod-aarsen, or Dodos, and though his account seems
to have been somewhat amplified by his editor Soeteboom, yet it contains some original and
important particulars. The sailors appear, on this occasion, to have revelled in Dodos, without
suffering from surfeit, like Van Neck’s crew. If the statements are correct that three or four,
and in one instance two, of these birds furnished an ample meal for Willem’s men, the bulk
of the Dodo must have been prodigious, and might well have equalled fifty pounds weight, as
asserted by Sir T. Herbert. As this tract is very rare, I will extract, in full, the passages which
mention these birds, and annex a literal translation.
1 This tract is entitled * Derde voomaemste Zee-getogt (der verbondene vrye Nederlanderen) na de Oost-Indien
gedaan met de Achinsche en Moluksche Yloten, onder de Ammiralen Jacob Heemskerk en Wolfert Harmansz.
In den Jare 1601,1602,1603. Getrocken Uyt de naarstige aanteekeningen van Willem van West-Zanen, Schipper
op de Bruin-Vis, en met eenige noodige byvoegselen vermeerdert, door H. Soete-Boom. 4to. Amsterdam 1648.’
(Brit. Mus. i p f. i5.)
2 After leaving Mauritius, Schuurmans returned to Holland in company with Harmansen and Gamier, Heems-
kerk’s Vice-Admiral, in the spring of 1603. So that Clusius is mistaken in saying (Exotica, p. 101,) that this
expedition was commanded by Van Neck, as the latter did not return from his second voyage until some years
afterwards.