to pass as a birds quill. Mr. Sibree, in his excellent book on Madagascar (The Great African Island,
1880), noticed this, but pointed out that the object was more probably the immensely long midrib of the
rofia palm (Sagus Raphia). Sir John Kirk, when in England in 1882, expressed entire confidence in this
identification, and on his return to Zanzibar in 1883 sent four of these midribs to England. These must
have been originally from 36 to 40 feet in length. The leaflets were all stript, but when entire the object
must have strongly resembled a Brobdingnagian feather. These rocs quills were shown at the Forestry
Exhibition in Edinburgh, 1884. Sir John Kirk wrote:
I send to-day per S.S. Arcot
four fronds of the Raphia palm, called here Moale. They are just as sold
and shipped up and down the coast. No doubt they were sent in Marco Polos time in exactly the same
statei.e. stripped of their leaflets and with the tip broken off. They are used for making stages and
ladders, and last long if kept dry. They are also made into doors, by being cut into lengths, and pinned
through.
Some other object has recently been shown at Zanzibar as part of the wings of a great bird.
Sir John Kirk writes that this (which he does not describe particularly) was in the possession of the R.
C. priests at Bagamoyo, to whom it had been given by natives of the interior, and these declared that
they had brought it from Tanganyika, and that it was part of the wing of a gigantic bird. On another
occasion they repeated this statement, alleging that this bird was known in the Udoe (?) country, near
the coast. The priests were able to communicate directly with their informants, and certainly believed
the story. Dr. Hildebrand also, a competent German naturalist, believed in it. But Sir John Kirk himself
says that what the priests had to show was most undoubtedly the whalebone of a comparatively small
whale (see letter of the present writer in Athenaeum, March 22nd, 1884). (c. 1000?).El Haçan
fils dAmr et dautres, daprès ce quils tenaient de maint-personnages de lInde, mont rapporté des choses
bien extraordinaires, au sujet des oiseaux du pays de Zabedj, de Khmêr (Kumar) du Senf et autres regions
des parages de lInde. Ce que jai vu de plus grand, en fait de plumes doiseaux, cest un tuyau que me
montra Abou l-Abbas de Siraf. Il était long de deux aunes environs capable, semblait-il, de contenir une
outre deau.
Jai vu dans lInde, me dit le capitaine Ismaïlawéih, chez un des principaux marschands, un
tuyau de plume qui était près de sa maison, et dans lequel on versait de leau comme dans une grande
tonne
. Ne sois pas étonné, me dit-il, car un capitaine du pays des Zindjs ma conté quil avait vu chez le roi
de Sira un tuyau de plume qui contenait vingt-cinq outres deau. Livre des Mervailles dInde. (Par
Van der Lith et Marcel Devic, pp. 6263.) 1
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