THE DODO QUERIES.
There is no mention of the Solitaire as inhabiting Bourbon, either in Père Brown's letter or in the Voyage de l'Arabic Heureuse, from whence the notice of the Oiseau Bleu was extracted. I have since seen Dellon, Rélation d'un Voyage des Indes Orientales, 2 vols. 12mo. Paris, 1685, in which there is a brief notice of the Isle of Bourbon or Mascarin; but neither the Dodo, the Solitaire, or the Oiseau Bleu are noticed. The large Bat is mentioned, and the writer says that the French who were on the island did not eat it, but only the Indians. He also notices the tameness of the birds, and says that the Flammand, with its long neck, is the only bird it was necessary to use a gun against, the others being readily destroyed with a stick or taken by hand.
Mr. Strickland's correction of the error about the monumental evidence of the discovery of Bourbon by the Portuguese, in 1545, will aid research into the period at which it was first visited and named; but my stock of Portuguese literature is but small, and not all of it accessible to me at present. In the meantime it may be acceptable to Mr. Strickland to know, that there is a detailed account of Portuguese discoveries in a book whose title would hardly indicate it, in which one passage will probably interest him. I allude to the rare and interesting folio volume printed at Lisbon in 1571. De Rebus Emanuelis Regis Lusitanie, invictissimi Virtute et Auspicio Gestis, auctore Hieronymo Osorio Episcopo Silvensis. These annals embrace the period from 1495 to 1529. In narrating the principal events of Vasco de Gama's first voyage, after he had rounded the Cape of Good Hope on the 25th November, 1497, steering to the east along the southern coast of Africa, the vessels anchor in the bay of St. Blaize, where—
"In intimo sinu est parva quædam Insula, ad quam nostri aquandi gratia naves-appulerunt. Ibi phocarum armenta conspexere admiranda quædam multitudine. In quibus inerat tanta feritas et truculentia, ut in homines irruerent. AVES etiam eo in loco visæ sunt, quas incolas apellant SOLTICARIOS, pares anscribus magnitudine: plumis minime vestiuntur, alas habent similes alis verspertionum: volare nequeunt, sed explicatis alarum membranis, cursum celeritate summa conficiunt."
The islet was probably that of La Cruz; but what were the birds? and what was the indigenous name which is represented by Solticarios? It is possible that some of your correspondents may be familiar with the original narration which Osorio follows, or Mr. Strickland may be able to solve the question.
I may just remark, that my observation respecting the improbability of Tradescant's stuffed specimen having been a fabrication could hardly be considered superfluous, seeing that some naturalists, Dr. Gray, I believe, among others, had suggested that it most probably was one.
S.W. SINGER.
May 3. 1850.