I have to thank "Mr. S.W. SINGER" (No. 22. p. 353.) for giving some
interesting replies to my "Dodo Queries" (No. 17. p. 261.). I trust that
Mr. S. will be induced to pursue the inquiry further, and especially to
seek for some _Portuguese_ account of the Mascarene Islands, prior to
the Dutch expedition of 1598. I am now able to state that the supposed
proof of the discovery of Bourbon by the Portuguese in 1545, on the
authority of a stone pillar, the figure of which Leguat has copied {411}
from Du Qesne, who copied it from Flacourt, turns out to be inaccurate.
On referring to Flacourt's _Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar_,
4to., Paris, 1658, p. 344, where the original figure of this monument is
given, I find that the stone was not found in Bourbon at all, but in
"l'Islet des Portugais," a small island at the mouth of the river
Fanshere (see Flacourt, p. 32.), near the S.E. extremity of Madagascar.
From this place Flacourt removed it to the neighbouring settlement of
Fort Dauphin in 1653, and engraved the arms of France on the opposite
side to those of Portugal. We are therefore still without any historical
record of the first discovery of Bourbon and Mauritius, though, from the
unanimous consent of later compilers, we may fairly presume that the
Portuguese were the discoverers.
The references which Mr. Singer has given to two works which mention the
_Oiseau bleu_ of Bourbon, are very important, as the only other known
authority for this extinct bird is the MS. Journal of Sieur D.B., which
thus receives full confirmation. May I ask Mr. Singer whether either of
these writers mentions the _Solitaire_ as inhabiting Bourbon?
The "Oiseaux appelez _Flamands_" quoted by Mr. S., are merely
_Flamingos_, and are devoid of interest as regards the present question.
The history of the Dodo's head at Copenhagen, referred to by Mr. Singer,
is fully recorded in the _Dodo and its Kindred_, pp. 25. 33.
The name _Dodo_ seems to have been first applied to the bird by Sir
Thomas Herbert, in 1634, who adds, in his edition of 1638, "a Portuguese
name it is, and has reference to her simpleness." Before that time the
Dutch were in the habit of calling it _Dodars_, _Dodaers_, _Toters_, and
_Dronte_. I had already made the same guesses at the etymology of these
words as those which Mr. Singer has suggested, but not feeling fully
satisfied with them, I put forth my Query VII. for the chance of
obtaining some further elucidation.
Mr. Singer's reasonings on the improbability of Tradescant's specimen of
the Dodo having been a fabrication are superfluous, seeing that the head
and foot of this individual are, as is well known, still in existence,
and form the subjects of six plates in the _Dodo and its Kindred_.
In regard to my Query IX. as to the local habitation of the family of
_Dronte_, who bore a Dodo on their shield, it has been suggested to me
by the Rev. Richard Hooper (who first drew my attention to this armorial
bearing), that the family was probably foreign to Britain. It appears
that there was a family named _Dodo_, in Friesland, a member of which
(Augustin Dodo, deceased in 1501) was the first editor of St.
Augustine's works. Mr. Hooper suggests that possibly this family may
have subsequently adopted the Dodo as their arms, and that Randle Holme
may, by a natural mistake, have changed the name of the family, in his
_Academy of Armory_, from _Dodo_ to the synonymous word _Dronte_. Can
none of your genealogical readers clear up this point?
H.E. Strickland.
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