There are usually (there, i.e., on the great
island) great p'oeng birds which so mask the sun in their flight that the
shade on the sundial is shifted. If the great p'oeng finds a wild camel
it swallows it, and if one should chance to find p'oeng's feather, he can
make a water-butt of it, after cutting off the hollow quill."
XXXIII., p. 421.
THE RUKH.
The Chinese traveller Chau Ju-kwa in his work Chu-fan-chi on the Chinese
and Arab trade in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, speaking of the
country of Pi p'a lo (Berbera), says: "The country brings forth also the
(so-called) 'camel crane', which measures from the ground to its crown
from six to seven feet. It has wings and can fly, but not to any great
height." The translators and commentators Hirth and Rockhill have (p. 129)
the following notes: "Quotation from Ling-wai-tai-ta, 3, 6a. The ostrich
was first made known to the Chinese in the beginning of the second century
of our era, when some were brought to the court of China from Parthia. The
Chinese then called them An-si-tsio 'Parthian bird.' See Hou Han Shu,
88, and Hirth, China and Roman Orient, 39. In the Wei shu, 102, 12b,
no name is given them, they are simply 'big birds which resemble a camel,
which feed on herbs and flesh and are able to eat fire. In the T'ang
shu, 221, 7a, it is said that this bird is commonly called 'camel-bird.'
It is seven feet high, black of colour, its feet like those of the camel,
it can travel three hundred li a day, and is able to eat iron. The
ostrich is called by the Persians ushturmurgh and by the Arabs
teir al-djamal, both meaning 'camel birds.'"
Dr. Bretschneider in his Notes on Chinese Mediaeval Travellers to the
West (1875), p. 87, n. 132, has a long note with a figure from the Pen
ts'ao kang mu on the "camel-bird" (p. 88).
Cf. F. Hirth, Die Laender des Islam, Supp. Vol. V. of T'oung Pao, 1894,
p. 54. Tsuboi Kumazo, Actes XII'e Cong, Int. Orient., Rome, 1899, II., p.
120.
XXXIII., p. 421.
GIRAFFES.
Speaking of Pi p'a lo (Berbera Coast) Chau Ju-kwa (p. 128) says: "There is
also (in this country) a wild animal called tsu-la; it resembles a camel
in shape, an ox in size, and is of a yellow colour. Its fore legs are five
feet long, its hind legs only three feet. Its head is high up and turned
upwards. Its skin is an inch thick." Giraffe is the iranised form of the
arabic zuraefa. Mention is made of giraffes by Chinese authors at Aden
and Mekka. Cf. FERRAND, J. Asiatique, July-August, 1918, pp. 155-158.
XXXIV., p. 422.
ZANGHIBAR.
We read in the Tao i chi lio:
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