Notes and Queries, Number 30, May 25, 1850 | Page 6

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 {486} 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 qu?dam Insula, ad quam nostri aquandi gratia naves-appulerunt. Ibi phocarum armenta conspexere admiranda qu?dam multitudine. In quibus inerat tanta feritas et truculentia, ut in homines irruerent. AVES etiam eo in loco vis? 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.
* * * * *
ABBEY OF ST. WANDRILLE.
In reply to the Vicar of Ecclesfield (No. 24. p. 382.), I am sorry to say that the "Chronicle of the Abby of St. Wandrille," to which I alluded (No. 21. p. 338.), contains nothing relating to the subject of his inquiry. The Abbey of Fontanelle, or St. Wandrille, was founded A.D. 645; and this chronicle contains a very concise account of a few only of its abbots and most celebrated members, down to the year 834: written, it is supposed, by a cotemporary of Ansegisus, the last abbot therein mentioned. It is followed by an appendix containing a compilation from a book on miracles wrought in the translation of the body of St. Wilfran, by an "eye-witness," which also recounts incidentally some of the acts of the abbots of St. Wandrille to the year 1053. Acheri speaks of persons who had been long engaged in collecting memorials of the history of this abbey up to the time of his writing, 1659. Whether these have ever been published, I have not the means at this moment of ascertaining. Some account of this abbey, with views of its ruins, will be found in that splendid work, _Voyages dans L'Ancienne France_, by Nodier, &c., vol. i.
The following notes from this chronicle may not be without interest, as showing an early connection between the abbey and this country, and our attachment to the See of Rome.

Chapter V
. is devoted to the praise of BAGGA, a monk and presbyter of this abbey, who is said to have been "ex Britannia Oceani insula Saxonico ex genere ortus." He died, and was buried in the abbey, between the years 707 and 723; on which occasion the Abbot Benignus is said to have exclaimed, "O signifer fortissime Christi militi? BAGGA, nunc mercedem laborum l?tus accipis tuorum. Deprecare ipsum benignum Dominum, ut unà tecum mereamur gaudere consortiis justorum per ?vum." Here is a prayer not for, but to the dead.
During the presidency of AUSTRULPHUS (ch. 13.), which began in 747 and ended in 753, a certain receptacle, in the form of a small _pharos_, was driven ashore in the district of Coriovallum, which contained a very fair copy of the four Gospels, beautifully written in Roman characters on the purest vellum; and part of the precious jaw of St. George the Martyr, as well as a portion of the "health-bearing" wood of