NATURAL CURIOSITY.
To be ſeen at Waſhington Hall, for this day only,
THE CASSOWARY,
A Bird, from the East Indies.
Its height is 5 feet, weighs near 100 pounds; it will eat half a peck of apples at a meal, ſwallow whole eggs, alſo ſtones and apples as large as eggs, and jump to a great height.—Goldſmith ſays, in his hiſtory of Animated Nature, it has the head of a Warrior, the eye of a Lion, the defence of a Porcupine, and the ſwiftneſs of a Courſer.
It is fond of all kinds of vegetables and fruits. It will pick a pea out of a Child's hand without injury. Many that have ſeen it, ſay it is the greateſt curioſity of the kind ever exhibited here. Children of ſeven years old can ride it.—Admittance for grown perſons 9 pence—Children half price.
☞ The remarkable bird, called the CASSOWARY, now exhibiting in this town, is described by Goldsmith in his 3d volume of Animated Nature, page 39, American edition.—After describing him, the Doctor observes, that "the southern parts of the most eastern Indies seem to be its natural climate. His domain, if we may so call it, begins where that of the ostrich terminates. The latter has never been found beyond the Ganges; while the Cassowary is never seen nearer than the islands of Banda, Sumatra, Java, the Molucca islands, and the corresponding parts of the continent. Yet even here this animal seems not to have multiplied in any considerable degree, as we find one of the kings of Java making a present of one of these birds to the captain of a Dutch ship, considering it as a very great rarity."
Gazette, August 8, 1800.