[p ii ] 200 copies printed [p iv ] Casuarius uniappendiculatus, juv....

BY JAMES R. McCLYMONT M.A., AUTHOR OF ‘PEDRALUAREZ CABRAL’ ‘VICENTE AÑES PINÇON’ LONDON BERNARD QUARITCH LTD. 11 GRAFTON STREET, NEW BOND STREET 1920...

Casuarius uniappendiculatus , Blyth. ( juv. ). From an example in the British Museum of Natural History. By permission of the Director. This plate should be compared with that opposite p. 22 , which represents a cassowary with two wattles—probably an immature Casuarius galeatus , Vieill. for that is the species which is believed to have been brought alive to Europe by the Dutch in 1597. An immature example of that species was not available for reproduction. II. Abris des wvnderbaren Vogels Eme .

[p 3 ] Contents Marco Polo , had he confined himself to a sober narration of his travels, would have left to posterity a valuable record of the political institutions and national customs of the peoples of his day in the Far East. He was not satisfied with doing this, but added to his narrative a number of on-dit more or less marvellous in character, which he collected from credulous or inventive persons with whom he came into contact, principally from mariners and from other travellers. Of thes

[p 7 ] Contents There exists an anonymous narrative of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama to India under the title Roteiro da Viagem de Vasco da Gama em MCCCCXCVII . Although it is called a roteiro, it is in fact a purely personal and popular account of the voyage, and does not contain either sailing directions or a systematic description of all the ports which were visited, as one might expect in a roteiro. There is no reason to believe that it was written by Vasco da Gama. An officer in such hi

[p 15 ] Contents The islands of the Banda Sea, with the exception of Letti, Kisser, and Wetter, constitute the Ceram sub-group or the Moluccan group; the principal units are Buru, Amboyna, Great Banda, Ceram, Ceram Laut, Goram, Kur, Babar, and Dama. The Matabela Islands, the Tiandu Islands, the Ké Islands, and the Tenimber Islands also belong to the Ceram sub-group. We are only concerned with the Banda Islands, which are eight in number, and consist of four central islands in close proximity to

[p 21 ] Contents Whence comes, let us ask, the name ‘eme’ and the later form, ‘emu.’ The New Historical English Dictionary suggests a derivation from a Portuguese word, ‘ema,’ signifying a crane. But no authority is quoted to prove that ema signifies, or ever signified, crane. On the other hand, various Portuguese dictionaries which have been consulted render ‘ema’ by ‘casoar,’ or state that the name ‘ema’ is applicable to several birds, of which the crane is not one. Pero de Magalhães de Gandav

[p 25 ] Contents In 1696 the Honourable Directors of the Dutch Chartered Company trading to the Dutch East Indies decided to send an expedition for the purpose of searching for missing vessels, especially for the Ridderschap van Hollandt , of which no news had been received for two years. The local Board of Directors of the Amsterdam Chamber of the Company was charged to carry out this resolution, and it equipped three vessels which were placed under the command of Willem de Vlaming. The Command