By a hut that stood in the middle of a field
of rice and durra there was a trough. "A man came up leading a pair of
oxen, laden with 12 skins of water, and emptied these into the trough. I
drew near to drink, and found the trough to be polished like a steel
blade, quite different from either glass or pottery. 'It is the hollow of
a quill,' said the man. I would not believe a word of the sort, until,
after rubbing it inside and outside, I found it to be transparent, and to
retain the traces of the barbs." (Comptes Rendus, etc., ut supra; and
Livre des Merveilles de L'Inde, p. 99.)
Fr. Jordanus also says: "In this India Tertia (Eastern Africa) are
certain birds which are called Roc, so big that they easily carry an
elephant up into the air. I have seen a certain person who said that he
had seen one of those birds, one wing only of which stretched to a length
of 80 palms" (p. 42).
The Japanese Encyclopaedia states that in the country of the Tsengsz'
(Zinjis) in the South-West Ocean, there is a bird called pheng, which in
its flight eclipses the sun. It can swallow a camel; and its quills are
used for water-casks. This was probably got from the Arabs. (J. As.,
ser. 2, tom.
