These Fowls, Of
Which I Have Seen Many, Are Very Tame, And When They Are Pursued,
Stretch Out Their Wings, And Run With Amazing Swiftness.
As they
have cloven feet, they sometimes strike up the stones when they run,
which gave occasion to the notion that they threw stones at the
hunters, a relation equally to be credited with those of their
eating fire and digesting iron.
Those feathers which are so much
valued grow under their wings: the shell of their eggs powdered is
an excellent remedy for sore eyes.
The burning wind spoken of in the sacred writings, I take to be that
which the natives term arur, and the Arabs uri, which blowing in the
spring, brings with it so excessive a heat, that the whole country
seems a burning oven; so that there is no travelling here in this
dreadful season, nor is this the only danger to which the unhappy
passenger is exposed in these uncomfortable regions. There blows in
the months of June, July, and August, another wind, which raises
mountains of sand and carries them through the air; all that can be
done in this case is when a cloud of sand rises, to mark where it is
likely to fall, and to retire as far off as possible; but it is very
usual for men to be taken unexpectedly, and smothered in the dust.
One day I found the body of a Christian, whom I knew, upon the sand;
he had doubtless been choked by these winds.
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